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Class ^ij„Sj£. 
Book M-I— 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 



By FRANK SARGENT HOFFMAN 



THE SPHERE OF THE STATE : or, The 
People as a Body Politic. Cr. 8vo. $1.50 

THE SPHERE OF SCIENXE : A Study of 
the Nature and Method of Scientific In- 
vestigation. Cr. 8vo. . . . $1.50 

PSYCHOLOGY AND COMMON LIFE : A 

Survey of the Present Results of Psychical 
Research, with Special Reference to their 
Bearings upon the Interests of Exery-day 
Life. Cr. 8vo. Net . . . $1.30 

THE SPHERE OF RELIGION: A Con- 
sideration of its Nature and of its Influence 
upon the Progress of Civilization. Cr. Svo. 



G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York & London 



Xhe Sphere of Religion 

A Consideration of its Nature and 

of its Influence upon the 

Progress of Civilization 



By 

Frank Sargent Hoffman, Ph.D. 

Professor in Union College, author of *'The Sphere of the State," **The 
Sphere of Science," etc. 



^ Truth, by whomsoever uttered, is from God.'' 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York and London 

Cbc l^nlcherbochcr prcBB 

1908 






Two Copies Rece«v >. 

FEB 101908 

COPY a. 



Copyright, 1908 

BY 

FRANK SARGENT HOFFMAN 



ILtz "Rnfcfeerbocfter J>rees, "ftevp Igorft 



PREFACE. 

This book is written for the express purpose of in- 
teresting thoughtful young men and women, especially 
those in our colleges, in the study of religion. It is 
the author's firm conviction that no other study offers 
to the student so many and such varied attractions, or 
exerts such a broadening and uplifting influence upon 
his mind and life. 

Anthropologists of to-day are unanimous in the 
opinion that religion came into the world with the 
very dawn of history, and that in all lands it originated 
the first signs of a civilized life. It has always in the 
past been a dominating factor in human development, 
and there is every reason to believe that it will con- 
tinue to be so in all time to come. 

No man or nation can dispense with religion, or keep 
it in the background. For every person is so made 
that when he has progressed far enough to distinguish 
himself from the world about him, he must recognize 
the existence of a power above himself and manifest 
some feeling of dependence upon that power. No hu- 
man beings have yet been discovered upon this planet 
who do not possess a religion of some sort, and the only 
serious question any man has left to ask himself on the 
matter is this : How can I so improve the religion I 
already have as to make it of the highest possible 
worth ? 

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a sub- 



iv Preface 

ject that in recent years has undergone greater or more 
radical modifications as to its nature and mission than 
the subject of religion. President Harris of Amherst 
College put it none too strongly when he said in his 
baccalaureate sermon to the class of 1907, *' I venture 
to say that the Protestant Reformation itself did not 
work a greater, though, perhaps, a more violent 
change, than the last quarter of a century has marked 
in religious thought, belief, and life.'' 

No person in our day has any right to consider him- 
self a fairly well-educated individual who is ignorant 
of these changes, or has intentionally ignored them 
as of slight account. For no other matter so vitally 
affects his own welfare and that of the community .at 
large. 

In trying to elucidate in some degree the present-day 
position regarding the sphere and significance of re- 
ligion, the author has endeavored to give an impartial 
hearing to the different forms of religion that have at- 
tained any special prominence in the course of history. 
He assumes that the reader will have little difficulty in 
selecting the one that, by its own inherent reasonable- 
ness and adaptation to actual human needs, is most 
worthy of the acceptance of his intellect and the service 
of his life. 

Two of the chapters, the first and the ninth, have 
already appeared in the North American Review, and 
two others have been printed wholly or in part in the 
Proceedings of the associations before which they were 
read and discussed. They are here reproduced with 
the consent of the publishers and at the suggestion 
of fiiends. 

If the readers of this book secure from its perusal 
even a fraction of the pleasure and profit that the author 



Prefc 



ace 



experienced while investigating the topics discussed, 
he will feel himself amply repaid for his eflforts in 
trying to compress the treatment of so great a theme 
into so small a compass. 

F. S. H. 
Union Coi^lege, 

January, 1908. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 



What is Rkugion ? 



CHAPTER n 
Stkps in thk Evolution of Religion 

CHAPTER in 
Sacrkd Books and How They Originate 

a. The Sacred Tablets of the Baby- 

lonians 

b. The Egyptian Book of the Dead 

c. The Vedas of the Hindus 

d. The Chinese Classics 

e. The Iliad and the Theogony oi 

THE Greeks .... 

/. The Avesta of Zoroaster 

g. Buddha's Tripitaka . 

h. The Bible of the Jews 

i. The Christian Sckipturks 

j. The Koran of Mohammed 

k, Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon 

/. Mrs. Eddy and "Science and 

Health" .... 
m. Madamk Blavatsky's *'Isls Un 

veiled" 

vii 



37 

37 

60 

71 

77 

94 

100 

107 
131 
150 
165 

188 
210 



viii Contents 



CHAPTER IV 

The RKI.ATION of thk Fine Arts to Religion 232 

CHAPTER V 
REI.IGION THE Key to History . . . 256 

CHAPTER VI 
What Rei^igion has to Do with Education . 278 

CHAPTER VII 

The Church and the Right to Property . 307 

CHAPTER viii 
The Church and the Modern State . 320 

chapter IX 
The Scientific Method in Theoi^ogy . . 338 

chapter X 
Human Immortai^ity and its Rei^ation to 

ReIvIGion 352 

chapter XI 
The Present- Day Conception of God . . 368 

Index 389 



The Sphere of Religion 



THE SPHERE OF RELIGION 



CHAPTER I. 

WHAT IS REI.IGION? 
(First published in the North American Review, Feb., 1908.) 

No one at all acquainted with the tendencies of 
thought at present can fail to be impressed with the 
greatly increased interest now being taken in the study 
of religion. Thinkers of every shade of opinion upon 
other subjects are fast coming to recognize the fact 
that religion has always held a vitally important place 
in the development of every race and individual, and, 
whether we like it or not, is certain to remain a most 
potent factor in the civilization of the future. 

For a number of years the most persistent eflForts 
have been put forth by a small army of able investi- 
gators to find out the actual facts of man's religious 
life in all times and countries. Not only have the 
sacred books and rites of the nations of the earth been 
subjected to the most rigid scrutiny, but the folk-lore 
of all lands and even the crudest superstitions and 
most repulsive practices of savages have been carefully 
studied. Every possible means has been taken to dis- 
cover what ideas man has had in all conditions of his 
existence concerning the powers that rule over this 
universe, and also to determine to what extent these 
ideas have afiected his thought and life. 



The Sphere of Religion 



But nothing is more apparent in this awakened in- 
terest in the subject of religion than that the old view 
of what constitutes religion has undergone, in some 
respects at least, an actual revolution. The narrow 
sectarian position of a generation ago has been shown 
to be wholly untenable ; and religion, instead of being 
the possible acquisition of a few, we now see reaches 
its roots deep down into the very subsoil of humanity, 
and cannot help giving itself some sort of expression, 
for good or for ill, in the experiences of every indi- 
vidual. Hence the chief inquiry of our time on this 
subject is not any longer whether a man has any re- 
ligion, but whether the religion that he does have is of 
any real value ; whether it is a help or a hindrance to 
his own progress and the ultimate triumph of truth 
and right. 

But before this question can properly be taken into 
consideration, we must make a careful scrutiny of an- 
other, namely, what exactly is to be meant by religion ? 
On this point there is still great confusion, and in the 
present state of the study of religion no need is more 
imperative than to have this confusion cleared away, or 
at least reduced to a minimum. 

We may be greatly helped to the attainment of this 
end by observing in the first place that religion is 
not to be confounded with religions. Religion is that 
out of which different forms of religion grow or de- 
velop. It stands related to religions about as the first 
man stands related to the whole human race. It is the 
germ or principle which lies at the foundation of all 
religions and out of which they all proceed. 

No error can be greater than to begin our present 
investigation with such a definition of religion as ex- 
cludes by its very terms all other religions than the 



What is Religion f 



one that we ourselves most approve. This error is not 
an uncommon one among writers on the subject even 
in our own day. A distinguished Oxford professor, 
Sir Monier Monier- Williams, recently maintained that 
**a religion, in the proper sense of the word, must 
postulate the existence of one living and true God of 
infinite power, wisdom, and love, the Creator and De- 
signer and Preserver of all things visible and invisible," 
besides other doctrines which he specified. Then he 
proceeded to exclude at once Buddhism from the list of 
religions as *'no religion at all." Manifestly, a defi- 
nition of religion should have in it what is applicable 
to all forms of religion from the lowest to the highest, 
and not merely what is true only of one. 

In the second place, religion should not be identified 
with a belief in the existence of superhuman spirits. 
We are not here concerned with the question as to 
whether the first known variety of religion actually 
took on this form. It may be admitted at once, how- 
ever, that most of the religions now current in the 
world do make a great deal of this belief. But what 
we maintain is that if the belief should turn out to be 
unfounded, religion would not be destroyed thereby. 

It was formerly held that the wind is an immaterial 
spirit; that the sun, moon, and stars are gods and god- 
desses with their own separate ambitions and whims; 
that the tides ebb and flow and that plants grow and 
decay in direct obedience to spiritual powers. But 
everybody at all acquainted with the physical science 
of to-day is of course well aware of the fact that no 
such supernatural beings exist, and that these objects 
and their activities are satisfactorily accounted for on 
quite other grounds. 

The untutored savage, when he awakes from a 



The Sphere of Religion 



dream, believes that lie has been away on a journey, 
or that other people have visited him. But as he takes 
it for granted that his bod}^ does not make these ex- 
cursions, he naturally concludes that his phantom or 
image makes them ; and when he beholds his shadow 
on the ground or sees it reflected on still water, he 
naturally infers that his double self is following him 
about. But no psychologist of to-day would of course 
admit the validity of such an explanation for these or 
any similar mental states that might come within the 
range of human experience. 

The realm of alleged superhuman spirits is con- 
stantly being lessened by modem research, and we 
have no way of telling at present where exactly this 
lessening process is going to end. Our point is that it 
is immaterial to our inquiry after the essential thing in 
religion as to where it does end. Many existing vari- 
eties of religion may have to go as many have gone 
already, but religion will remain. The doctrine of the 
existence or non-existence of superhuman spirits is not 
fundamental to its continuance. 

One of the ablest advocates of this view of religion is 
Prof. E. B. Tylor. In his Primitive Culture (vol. i., 
pp. 424-5), after very properly insisting that the first 
requisite in a s^'stematic study of the religions of prim- 
itive men is to lay down a rudimentar}- definition, he 
proceeds to criticise those generally in vogue. He 
finds the chief error of them all to consist in identifying 
religion with particular developments, rather than 
with the deeper motive which underlies them, and 
concludes by saying, *'It seems best to fall back at 
once on this essential source, and simply to claim as a 
minimum definition of religion the belief in Spiritual 
Beings." 



What is Religion ? 



Now it is admitted that this belief may be a charac- 
teristic of all primitive religions ; and, if we were merely- 
treating of the histoiy of religion, we might find this 
definition of much use. But we are looking for the 
germ or common principle of all religions, and that is 
something for which this conception of religion does 
not adequately suffice. 

Again, we should not regard religion as primarily 
resting upon a belief in human immortality. Even so 
great a philosopher as Kant maintains that " without 
a belief in a future hfe no religion can be conceived to 
exist" ; and John Fiske in his very helpful book, 
Through Nature to God^ asserts that the "belief in 
the unseen world in which human beings continue to 
exist after death" is essential to religion. Both these 
thinkers forget that the early Jewish religion was with- 
out such belief, and that in many religions where it 
does exist it forms no important part of either belief or 
practice. Among the ancient Greeks immortality 
meant the immortality of the family or state rather 
than that of the individual. 

In many religions whole classes are formally ex- 
cluded from it and the doctrine is by no means univer- 
sally held to-day. As Howerth well says in a recent 
article {Internat, Jour, of Ethics, Jan., 1903, p. 190): 
"What has the conception of immortality to do with 
the religious philosophy of those who hold, with the 
late Prof. Huxley, that religion is reverence and love 
for the ethical ideal, and the desire to realize that ideal 
in life? or with that of the philosopher Herbart, who 
considered sympathy with the universal dependence 
of men as the essential natural principle of religion? *' 

Important as this doctrine may be to some concep- 
tions of the ultimate nature of tlic universe, religion 



The Sphere of Religion 



would not perish if it should turn out to be erroneous. 
For what may happen in eternity cannot be the de- 
termining cause of the existence of a thing here and 
now. If the doctrine of conditional immortality, advo- 
cated by so many in our day, should become a general 
view, the universal acceptance of the doctrine would 
not annihilate religion. The idea of immortality can- 
not therefore be regarded as its final basis or ground. 

Nor can we clear up this subject of religion by mak- 
ing it primarily dependent upon the belief in one per- 
sonal God. This belief is, to be sure, the dominant 
form of thought on the subject of religion in all civil- 
ized lands, and that much must be admitted in its 
favor. But by holding to this as a satisfactory defini- 
tion of religion we should exclude the vast majority of 
the human race from the category of religious beings. 
For many maintain that no primitive races have this 
idea, and the Buddhistic religion with its almost un- 
told number of adherents teaches just the opposite 
doctrine. Of course, we are not concerning ourselves 
with the truthfulness or the value of this belief Our 
only contention now is that those who deny this doc- 
trine do not destroy religion. 

What man in history was ever more sincerely relig- 
ious to the very core of his being than the philosopher 
Spinoza ? His whole life was devoted to the advocacy 
of the doctrine that the only thing in this world worth 
striving for was to love and know God. ' ' Our salva- 
tion,'' he says, *' or blessedness, or liberty, consists in 
a constant, or eternal love towards God." Yet he dis- 
tinctly and deliberately rejected the personality of God 
as wholly out of harmony with a sound philosophy. 
Nature, or the World- Force, was the object of his 
reverence and love. 



What is Religion ? 7 

As a matter of fact, belief in the existence of many 
g'ods has been far more prevalent in the history of 
mankind than the belief in one. Suppose polytheism 
should ultimately prevail over all lands, or pantheism 
should become the universal doctrine. That would 
not do away with the existence of religion. It would 
only be changing its form of manifestation. 

If the positions already taken are sound, we have 
gone far enough to see that religion in the truest and 
most profound sense of the term is not primarily de- 
pendent upon any specific set of beliefs. It does not 
rise and fall with these beliefs, or go out of existence if 
they cease to be. The greatest variety of beliefs have 
been held by the religious leaders of the world from 
Confucius and Zoroaster and Socrates down to our 
times and ntry, but few, if any, specific articles of 
belief are taught by them in common. No one of the 
creeds, even among Christians, is established beyond 
critical investigation, and many of them may yet be set 
aside or at least greatly modified by advancing thought. 

E. Ritchie, after a very satisfactory discussion of 
the relation of creeds to religion in a late number of the 
Philosophical Review (January, 1901), clearly states 
the true position in these words : '* We must conclude, 
then, that there is no particular belief as to what the 
ultimate reality of things is, or as to man's relation to 
that reality, which is either essential to, or incompati- 
ble with, the possession of religion." This position 
does not imply, however, that religion has nothing at 
all to do with belief ; for the opposite is true, as we shall 
see a little later. 

Nor are we to find the ultimate ground of religion is 
some particular feeling or set of feelings. In the sys- 
tem of the famous theologian, Schleiermacher, religion 



8 The Sphere of Religion 

was regarded as neither a knowing nor a doing, but a 
feeling ; and it was made to rest fundamentally on ' * a 
feeling of absolute dependence. * * Several able modern 
writers seem to hold this view, of whom Prof. Lester 
H. Ward may be taken as an example. In an able 
article in the Internat, Jour, of Ethics (January, 1898), 
he says : *' It is this sense of helplessness before the 
majesty of the environment which if it is not religion 
itself, is the foundation upon which all religion is 
based.'' The error here is not in holding that religion 
has to do with feeling, but in maintaining that it is 
grounded primarily on feeling alone. For it is psy- 
chologically untrue to fact that any human feeling 
springs up of itself. It is always preceded by some act 
of knowing of at least some degree of clearness and 
force. 

Finally, for the negative side of our inquiry, religion 
is not primarily a doing. It is not based alone upon 
the will. There are no acts the performing of which 
makes a man religious. Even '* being good and doing 
good," though a good thing in itself, will not account 
for religion. Nor is it adequately defined as obedience 
to the commandments of God or as the subjection of our 
fallible wills to a higher will. All these positions con- 
tain an element of truth ; but they do not lead us to the 
essence of religion as in the Ught of modern knowledge 
it ought to be considered. The apostle James was 
evidently not speaking of the ultimate foundations of 
religion, but of a local and temporal condition, when 
he made pure and undefiled religion to consist of this : 
**to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, 
and to keep himself unspotted from the world." 

We must look for a satisfactory definition of religion, 
therefore, not to any specific belief, or kind of feeling, 



What is Religion ? 



or set of voluntary acts, but to the whole of man as a 
knowing, feeling, and willing being. We should not 
identify religion with any one of these three kinds of 
mental phenomena, but with them all. The psychology 
of to-day teaches that these phenomena in all proba- 
bility never occur separately ; that the unit of con- 
sciousness includes in some measure the activity of all 
three. Every act of perception is accompanied by a 
feeling, and every feeling by an act of will. Nor can 
the order of their occurrence be changed. Every voli- 
tion is preceded by a feeling, and every feeling by 
some sensation or intellectual act. Pfleiderer is right 
when he insists that in every religious act the whole 
personality participates. 

Hence a correct definition of religion must be deter- 
mined by the way we put these three elements together. 
Our problem is a problem in psychology. It is not in 
the study of theology or ethnology, but of this science 
that we shall find the data for the proper solution of it. 
Religion exists because man exists. It grows up out 
of the normal development of his powers, and in tr^-ing 
to define it no basal element in his nature should be 
left out of account. 

Religion shows itself just as soon as man has devel- 
oped beyond the mere satisfaction of his animal appetites 
and begins to exercise his higher powers. There is a 
partial truth at least in Prof. Ward's position that '' re- 
ligion is the substitute in the rational world for instinct 
in the sub-rational.*' No new-born babe or full-grown 
idiot has any religion, but every normally developed 
human being has. WhenevxT a man knows enough to 
distinguish the outside world from himself, and tries to 
act in accordance with this knowledge, he begins to be 
religious. 



lo The Sphere of Religion 

The first element, therefore, in religion is the recog- 
V nition of the existence of a power not ourselves pervad- 
l|. ing the universe. And another is the endeavor to put 
^ ourselves in harmonious relation with this power. Of 
course the feeling or aflFective element is presupposed 
as coming in between the other two. For without it 
the endeavor would lack a motive, and could therefore 
have no existence whatsoever. Every sane man believes 
at least that he is only a fraction of the sum-total of 
things. He also feels some dependence upon this sum- 
total, and he is obliged to put himself in some sort of 
accord with it. This is what Caird has condensed into 
the statement, ^'a man's religion is the expression of 
his ultimate attitude to the universe" {Evolution of 
Religion, vol. i., p. 30). 

Every growing man is continually changing in some 
degree his conception of the universe and the mysteri- 
ous power that it manifests, but at no time in his career 
does he arrive at a final and completed conception of 
it. This is due of course to the fact that his experience 
is limited and can never be anything else. One of the 
greatest reflections upon a man's character in this age 
when so much is being added to our knowledge of the 
universe is that his views about religion never change. 

Still, we must not forget that religion is a great per- 
manent reality. It is not something that comes to-day 
and goes to-morrow. So long as man endures, it will 
endure ; and as man advances it will grow in import- 
ance and power. 

Here we need to note the fact that the permanence 
and reality of religion can never be afiected in the least 
by the teachings of any science. For science is only 
one of man's imperfect ways of looking at his know- 
ledge. It can never make or break any reality. Re- 



What is Religion f 1 1 

ligion was in the world long before any of the sciences 
came into being, and it will stay here whatever may 
be their future development. 

For science is a means to an end, and when the end 
is attained, when a perfect comprehension of the truth, 
such as we might suppose a god to possess, is arrived 
at, there will be no need of science. But so long as 
man remains finite, science will have a great deal to do 
with the various forms of religion that from time to 
time make their appearance in history. For it is the 
business of science to investigate and criticise all kinds 
of beliefs, and particularly all beliefs that are proposed 
for the acceptance of mankind concerning the nature 
and attributes of the supreme power that pervades the 
universe. Not infrequently science has had to combat 
with vigor such beliefs, for they have often been out of 
all accord with carefully ascertained truth. 

At certain periods in the past the greatest enemy of 
religion has been theology, and in certain localities this 
is the case at present. For theology is almost always 
the last science to yield to the incoming of new truths. 
But whatever may be the teachings of theology or any 
other science, the essential thing in religion is not 
destroyed thereby. The germ is always present and 
is growing with some degree of vigor and bearing some 
kind of fruit. 

If the view of religion taken above be correct, we are 
led to the observation that every man is by nature re- 
ligious, and unless he twists his growth out of its 
normal course of development, he will always remain 
so. Irreligion is not the state or condition of having 
no religion at all. It is rebellion against what one 
really believes to l)e the best religion, and the setting 
up of vSoine inferior religion in its stead. Ivvcry sane 



1 2 The Sphere of Religion 

man must have a god of some sort. He is so made 
that he must worship something. He must put some- 
thing over and above himself and pay that something 
homage. Modern students of the subject of religion 
are now everywhere admitting the great truth con- 
tained in the statement of the ancient Psalmist that 
only a fool can say in his heart, *' There is no God./* 
They are willing to go much farther and accept with- 
out hesitation the recent assertion of President Eliot 
of Harvard, that the true test of any man's progress 
in civilization is his idea of God. 



CHAPTER II. 

S,TKPS IN THE EVOI.UTION OF IxEUGION. 

The most remarkable thing yet discovered about this 
planet is the fact that human beings exist upon it in 
large numbers, scattered almost everywhere over its 
surface, who pay homage to super-terrestrial powers. 
But this fact, remarkable as it is, is only a portion of 
the truth. For the most searching and unprejudiced 
investigation has failed to reveal any time in human 
history when it was otherwise. However ignorant and 
forlorn man may have been in the past, we have no 
evidence that he has ever been so low down in the 
vScale of being that he did not look upward wdth some 
degree of reverence and awe to higher powers. 

Not many years ago this fact of the universal pre- 
valence of religion among men w^as seriously called in 
question by no less weighty writers than Sir John 
Lubbock and Herbert Spencer. They quoted at length 
from the reports of certain travellers and missionaries 
among the Eskimos of North Greenland, the Hottentots 
of South Africa, and the Indians of Lower California, in 
support of tlieir position; and they stoutly contended 
that in these documents we have proof positive that 
there are communities now in existence that have no 
religion at all. This challenge lead to a careful and 
thorough study of the status of these tribes by compe- 
tent anthropologists, and in every case an extensive 
mythology was discovered among them, together with 

13 



14 The Sphere of Religion 

elaborate religious rites. A false idea of the meaning 
and scope of religion, a short stay in the countr}% or a 
lack of knowledge of the native language, had been the 
cause of the mistaken judgment. Probably no scholar 
of repute to-day would hesitate to accept the statement 
of Prof. D. G. Brinton in his work on The Religions of 
Primitive Peoples (p. 30) that '' there has not been a 
single tribe, no matter how rude, known in history or 
visited by travellers, which has been shown to be desti- 
tute of religion under some form." 

The reason for this historical fact is a psychological 
one, and has never been more clearly or forcibly ex- 
pressed than by Dr. Edward Caird. ' ' Man, ' ' he asserts 
{^The Evolution of Religio7i, vol. i., p. 77), " by the very 
constitution of his mind, has three ways of thinking 
open to him : he can look outwards upon the world 
around him; he can look inwards upon the self within 
him, and he can look upwards to the God above him. ' ' 
And he ver)^ appropriately adds, ** none of these possi- 
bilities can remain utterly unrealized." 

For the fact is that man is a self-conscious being. 
And inasmuch as he is endowed with some degree of 
reason and will, he cannot stand still and passively 
gaze at the objects about him as though he were a 
mere brute. He must at least exert himself enough 
to form some kind of a conception of the powers around 
and above him, and put forth some degree of energy 
to place himself in harmonious relations with them. 
But it should not at all surprise us if at the outset 
of his career as a religious being, he shows the same 
confusion of ideas about the objects he worships as he 
does about all the other matters that come within the 
sphere of his experience. On the contrary, we should 
naturally expect to find him growing and developing 



Steps in the Evolution of Religion 1 5 

in his religious ideas as he grows and develops in all 
others. 

As a matter of fact, this is actually the case, and it 
will be our present purpose to trace out in a general 
way some of the principal steps that he has taken as he 
has advanced from lower to higher conceptions on this 
subject in the course of history. 

It is now generally agreed by careful students of an- 
thropology that the most primitive form of all religion 
is best characterized by the word Spiritism. This is 
the naive and unreflective belief that most objects in 
this world, especially those that are capable of motion, 
contain an unseen being, which, for the lack of a better 
term, we will call a demon, or spirit; that these spirits 
have superhuman powers and can affect for good or ill 
everything that concerns the ongoings of nature and 
the lives and happiness of man. In this stage of de- 
velopment human beings attribute all their pleasant 
experiences to a friendly demon, and all their disagree- 
able ones to just the opposite source. Hence they make 
use of every means in their power to win the favor of 
the good spirits, and ward off the envy and wrath of 
the bad. 

The reason for this state of things is not hard to find. 
For when the primitive man first begins to give form 
to his religion, he is himself the only being that he 
knows anything about that possesses the power of 
spontaneous action. He cannot help attributing the 
same power to all the objects with which he in any way 
comes in contact. He acts just as every little child 
acts in a similar condition. Any object that constantly 
gives a baby pleasure it pats and caresses with affection. 
The one from which it gets a hard pinch or knock it 
wants to pound and kick with all its power. It spon- 



1 6 The Sphere of Religion 

taneously assigns to the object the same sensations and 
feelings and will as it is itself conscious of. Its experi- 
ence is so limited and crude that it does not know 
enough to do otherwise. So it is with primitive 
man. To him every other is another, and he attributes 
to that other all of his own powers. In his opinion the 
world about and above him is made up of a vague, in- 
definite host of superhuman demons or spirits, and the 
form of his religion is determined by that fact. 

Another thing that confirmed the primitive man in 
the belief that he was surrounded by a world of super- 
sensuous beings was his experience in dreams ; when 
he had developed far enough to remember his dreams 
with any vividness, he always thought of them as real 
experiences. The beings that visited him in his sleep 
were as genuine realities and as truly to be dealt with 
as any that he came in contact with when awake. In 
fact, he finds that he can often do things in dreams 
that he cannot do when awake, and that he frequently 
communes with beings that he has no knowledge of 
when awake. The Kamtchatkans and Eskimos, we 
are told, determine what they will do when awake to a 
great extent by their dreams ; for they regard the 
knowledge obtained in this way as far superior to that 
gained through the senses. I^ucretius, however, goes 
too far when he asserts that ' * the dreams of men peopled 
the heaven with gods." Many of the lower animals 
are vivid dreamers, but they show no signs of having 
any religion. Still, dreams in all ages have often been 
regarded with superstitious reverence, and were un- 
doubtedly an element in determining the character of 
the primitive religion of mankind. 

It has come down to us from the I^atin poet Petro- 
nius that ''fear first made the gods." As a complete 



Steps in the Evolution of Religion 1 7 

statement of the origin of religion, it is contrary to the 
history and nature of man. The primary religious 
influence is not fear, but confidence and awe. The 
spirit of many early religions was quite the opposite of 
fear. ' ' Probably the first of all public rites of wor- 
ship," says a high authority (Brinton, The Religions 
of Primitive Peoples, p. 181), ^'was one of joyousness, 
to wit, the invitation to the god to be present and to 
partake of the repast/' So Prof. Frank Granger testifies 
in his work on the Worship of the Romans. No word 
of mourning was allowed at their religious celebra- 
tions, and usually they consisted in large part of the- 
atrical performances, horse-races, dances, and games 
for the entertainment of their gods. Dr. Robertson 
Smith tells us in his Religion of the Seviites (p. 260) 
that the early Semitic ceremonies were *' predominantly 
joyous," and it was often this element in their worship 
that led them to indulge in the grossest excesses. 
Many other modern students of the subject would bear 
witness to the presence of joy and confidence in 
primitive religions. 

Yet it cannot be denied but that fear early came 
to be one of their most important elements. For just 
as with the little child, the primitive man was often 
disappointed in his confidence. As his experience 
widened and the ills of life multiplied, he began to 
doubt the friendly character of the spirits. He soon 
came to the conviction that some only were favorable 
to him. The rest were to be feared. And as fear once 
aroused feeds upon everything within its grasp and 
grows with extraordinary rapidity, the uncertainty as 
to what the attitude of the spirits would be toward him 
naturally caused the primitive man to spend the most 
of his energy in devising ways to appease their wrath. 



1 8 The Sphere of Religion 

Wherever this form of religion now prevails, demons 
of darkness and destruction have come to receive al- 
most exclusive worship. In fact, the wretchedness 
and misery of heathendom, — cannibalism, human sac- 
rifices, and the revolting licentiousness of many primi- 
tive religious rites — are chiefly due to the frantic ef- 
forts of ignorant man to propitiate these monsters and 
ward off their manifold terrors. 

A slight step in advance beyond spiritism was taken 
when the opinion began to prevail that all objects do 
not contain superhuman beings, but only some of them. 
This stage in religion is called Fetishism. The term 
was first applied by certain early Portuguese explorers 
to the objects worshipped by the savage tribes they 
discovered in Senegal and the region of the Congo. 
They found some of these peoples paying homage to 
such objects as a piece of wood, a feather, the fin of a 
fish, the claw of a bird, the hoof of a goat. Others 
among them regarded with reverential awe a big rock, 
a grove of trees, some such animal as a snail, a snake, 
a lizard, or a crocodile. In fact, anything became an 
object of worship to them when they fancied that a 
powerful unseen being had attached himself to it. 

If a fetish brings good luck, it may be sold for a 
high price if the owner wishes to part with it. If it 
brings bad luck, it is thrown away or demolished. For 
all virtue has gone out of it. The spirit that was in it 
has departed, and it has lost its power. The favorite 
fetish of a Papuan of New Guinea is a little wooden 
doll with a bright colored rag tied around it. If a 
stroke of ill fortune comes to him when he has this in 
his belt, he will take it out and stamp on it, or tear it 
in pieces with his teeth, and cast it from him as of 
utterly no value. 



Steps in the Evolution of Religion ig 

When food is ofiered by a South African negro to a 
stone by the wayside, he does not expect the stone to 
eat it. The food is for the fetish that resides in the 
stone, and the fetish is always a spirit. Man's first 
home was probably the hollow of a tree. He lived on 
the fruit of the tree and sought refuge in its branches. 
But when some Mexican tribes took a tree for their 
fetish, they did not worship the material of the tree. 
It was only the spirit that resided in it that they 
reverenced. 

As we go about over the surface of the earth, we find 
that different tribes have selected different objects for 
their fetish, according as the objects have impressed 
themselves upon them as possessing superhuman 
powers. Among the Maoris of New Zealand spiders 
were paid divine honors ; for it was in their gossamer 
threads that they fancied the souls of the departed as- 
cended heavenwards. 

Some of the Indian tribes of the Northwest regarded 
the raven, or the thunder-bird, as they called it, as es- 
pecially sacred ; and according to Captain Cook, the 
Sandwich Islanders also did so. The peacock, the swan, 
the rooster, the eagle, and the dove, have been the favor- 
ite fetishes of other tribes. In Australia and Polynesia 
the lizard was greatly revered. The Chaldeans paid 
the fish divine honors. In Egypt the ox was especially 
sacred, and so it is in parts of India. In certain of the 
Fiji Islands the shark is worshipped, just as the alliga- 
tor is in the Philippines. The Samoyeds in Siberia 
make fetishes of the whale and the polar bear. 

But the most widely worshipped of all animals is tlie 
serpent. Mr. Ferguson, in his work on Tree and Ser- 
pent Worship, finds that the serpent was accorded di- 
vine honors by nearly all the nations of antiquity, and 



20 The Sphere of Religion 

is now worshipped in many parts of Asia, Africa, and 
America. Among the Lithuanians in southern Russia, 
says a high authority, '' every family entertained a real 
serpent as a household god." Sir John Lubbock tells 
us that in Liberia ' ' no negro would intentionally injure 
a serpent, and any one doing so by accident would as- 
suredly be put to death. Some English sailors once 
having killed one which they found in their house, 
were furiously attacked by the natives who killed them 
all and burned the house " {^Origin of Civilization^ p. 

177). 

The Hindus probably excel all other peoples of the 
world in the number of objects to which they pay 
divine honors ; for they worship ' ' almost every living 
creature, whether quadruped, bird, or reptile.'* But 
they never worship the objects themselves, nor do any 
of the tribes or peoples enumerated above do so. They 
always treat the object with indifference, if not con- 
tempt, if they believe the superhuman spirit it contained 
has gone out of it. 

In this stage of religious development, as in every 
other, it happened that certain persons came to devote 
their lives to finding out the ways of the spirits. Under 
the name of medicine-men, sorcerers, shamans, yogi, 
or fetish priests, they soon became the leaders and 
guides of the people, dictating even the very details of 
their daily lives. By the practice of many magical 
rites and the use of various charms and incantations 
they believed that they acquired such a knowledge of 
the plans and intents of the spirits that they could di- 
rect their actions almost at their option. They had all 
the confidence in themselves and all the authority over 
others of inspired prophets. Often they gained this in- 
sight by the most terrible self-inflicted tortures. They 



Steps in the Evolution of Religion 2 1 

would not hesitate to cut oflF a limb, pluck out an eye, 
drive thongs through the body, burn themselves with 
hot coals, to put themselves eii rapport With the spirits. 
They therefore knew no limit to the suffering that they 
would impose upon others, if they thought the spirits 
could be propitiated thereby. It was not at all uncom- 
mon for them to call upon their followers to offer up 
not only their slaves and their captives, but the nearest 
and dearest of their own household and blood to gain 
the favor of the gods. For the dearer the victim, the 
more pleased they would be at the gift. Traces of hu- 
man sacrifice are found in the early history of even the 
noblest religions. The ancient Hebrew religion is no 
exception to this rule. 

Closely allied to fetishism, 3'et indicating some ad- 
vance in the evolution of religious beliefs is Ancestor- 
worship. This easily arises when man has developed 
far enough to begin to meditate upon the phenomena 
of death. At the very outset it is likely that death did 
not arouse much more interest than it does now among 
brutes. Brinton asserts that *' The evidence is moun- 
tain-high that in the earliest and rudest period of 
human history the corpse inspired so little terror that it 
was nearly always eaten by the surviving friends." 
But even this custom was probably of a religious origin. 
A traveller (D'Orbigny) in Bolivia tells us of an old 
Indian he met there whose only regret in giving up his 
old religion and adopting Christianity was that his 
body would now be devoured by worms, instead of 
being eaten by his relatives. 

At all events, it early became an elaborate and sol- 
emn religious rite to provide the body with carefully 
prepared viands for its last long journey. Any neglect 
on the part of the survivors would be severely punished. 



2 2 The Sphere of Religion 

For the soul of the departed would continue to roam 
about without a home, unless it was properly attended 
to its final resting-place. Hence it became the world- 
wide custom among savage tribes to place in the tomb 
or on the funeral pyre such articles as the weapons, the 
clothing, and ornaments of the deceased. In many 
cases the wives or slaves or companion-in-arms were 
slain or slew themselves to accompany a chieftain to his 
long home. Often among the American Indians they 
were interred in the same mound, and many such 
mounds exist in diflFerent parts of the country. 

When a tribe had survived so long as to have a 
history, and to trace its descent through the male head 
of the family, a decided change in its religious views 
usually followed. As Giddings describes it (^Principles 
of Sociology, p. 290) * ' while the household may con- 
tinue to regard natural objects and forces and mis- 
cellaneous spirits with superstitious feelings, they 
entertain for the soul of the departed founder of the 
house the strongest feeling of veneration. They think 
of the ancestral spirit as their protector in the land of 
shades. To the ancestral spirit, therefore, they pay 
their principal devotions.'* We find it generally true 
that the family tomb was near the house and not far 
from the entrance. The children were brought up 
under its shadow, and constantly addressed to it their 
prayers. Within the house on the family altar burned 
the sacred fire that went out only with the extinction 
of the family. Around this fire all the household dead 
were supposed frequently to assemble to hear their 
mighty deeds narrated and to be reverenced and 
adored. 

All the ancient Semitic tribes were ancestor-wor- 
shippers, and so were the Aryans when they first 



Steps in the Evolution of Religion 23 

appeared on the shores of the Mediterranean. The 
Egyptians carried the cult to a high state of perfection, 
and the manes- worship which long held sway among 
the Romans is an example of it. It is to-day the re- 
ligion of the Bantu tribes of Africa, and still prevails to 
some extent in Japan. But it is chiefly among the 
Chinese that this form of religion has reached its high- 
est form of development. All changes in the customs 
of the country are resisted as a reflection upon the 
regulations established by their ancestors, for the in- 
fraction of w^hich they will be severely punished. 
The greatest sin they can commit is to allow the 
graves of their ancestors to be disturbed for any cause 
whatsoever. 

Herbert Spencer regarded ancestor-worship as the 
primary religion. In his Science of Sociology (vol. i., 
p. 309) he expressly says : ' ' The rudimentary form of 
all religion is the propitiation of dead ancestors, who 
are supposed to be still existing, and to be capable of 
working good and evil to their descendants." 

The trouble with this view is that it is superficial. 
It rests upon a false conception of religion, and is con- 
trary to historical and psychological fact. But perhaps 
the chief objection to Spencer's view is its simplicity. 
For as Jastrow remarks ( The Study of Religion, p. 1 85), 
' ' Religion is too complex a phenomenon to be accounted 
for by the growth and spread of a single custom." 

As men progress in their knowledge of the things 
about them, they come to see the defects in the forms 
of religion described above, and begin to turn their 
attention to more exalted powers. They cease to pay 
exclusive homage to the spirits that reside in the ob- 
jects that they themselves have handled and can make 
or destroy, and begin to look up in reverential awe to 



2 4 The sphere of Religion 

the beings that manifest themselves on a vaster scale, 
and in a more consistent and impressive manner. 

Thus arose what is usually called Nature-worship, 
the most prominent form of which is the worship of 
the celestial bodies. It is probable that the division 
of the week into seven days came about from the dedi- 
cation of one day to each of the gods manifesting him- 
self through the seven greatest luminaries. 

Naturally, in all except the torrid zone, the sun-god 
received the greatest homage. As the source of light 
and warmth, as the earth's great fructifying power, as 
the one constant ever-recurring factor in man's daily 
experience, it has always awakened the most powerful 
religious emotions, in the minds of rude as well as semi- 
civilized people. Among the ancient Phoenicians the 
sun was the centre of their cultus. It was probably 
the leading feature of the religion of the ancient 
Persians. The same was also true of the Sabeans. The 
worship of Apollo, so popular among the Greeks, was 
in all probability sun-worship. The Egyptians gave 
the sun a high place in their system, and the ancient 
Peruvians paid it their chief honors. The Celts and 
the Teutons, as well as the East Indians, made much 
of it, and so do numerous tribes in Africa to-day. It 
is maintained by many writers that the North American 
Indians were always and chiefly sun-worshippers ; that 
the sun was actually their Manitou, or Great Spirit. 

In some lands the moon was fixed upon as the chief 
deity. Certain Australian tribes believe to-day that 
all things, including man, were created by the moon. 
Anthropologists tell us that in many American lan- 
guages the moon is regarded as male, and the sun is 
referred to as ' * his companion. ' ' Some of the Brazilian 
tribes pray to the moon as *' Our Father," and regard 



Steps in the Evolution of Religion 2 5 

it as their common ancestor. So do the eastern 
Eskimos. 

At all periods of the world's history the stars have 
received special homage. Among the early natives of 
Greenland and Australia the Milky Way was nothing 
less than the pathway of souls ascending to their home 
in the heavens. The Auroras Borealis and Australis 
were actually in their opinion the dance of the gods 
across the firmament. 

Another form of nature-worship was the adoration of 
the fire-god. Among all peoples fire has been held 
sacred. It was thought of as the central principle of 
life. Among the Kafirs in South Africa every religious 
ceremony must be performed in front of a fire. The 
Indians of Guatemala regard it as their greatest and 
oldest deity. The fire test was practised by the Aztecs 
of Mexico, as well as by the Moloch worshippers of 
Syria. In Borneo the crackling of blazing twigs is the 
speech of the gods. The vestal fire of old, and the 
perpetual fire of the modern Christian altar are both 
founded upon the assumption of its sacred character. 

Early missionaries in America tell us that the Hurons 
paid the sky the greatest homage. They imagined that 
it contained a powerful demon or ** oki,'* that reigned 
over the seasons of the year, and controlled the winds 
and waves. The supreme deity of the Iroquois was the 
** sky-comer," who had his festival about the time of 
the winter solstice. He was the one who brought their 
ancestors out of the mountain and taught them hunt- 
ing, marriage, and religion. Some of the Zulus tliink 
of the sky as the " Master of Heaven,*' and pay it di- 
vine honors, and so do the Tartars and Fiinis. In an- 
cient China, Tien, or Heaven, was the Upper Emperor, 
or I/)rd of the Universe. According to Max Miiller, 



26 The Sphere of Religion 

Zeus was the heaven-god of the Greeks. ' ' lyike the 
sky," he says, " Zeus dwells on the highest mountain. 
Like the sky, Zeus embraces the earth ; like the sky, 
Zeus is eternal, unchanging, the highest god ' ' (I/ec- 
tures, 2d series, p. 425). 

The water-god has always had a multitude of wor- 
shippers. As the source of moisture and the dew and 
all refreshing showers, it easil}^ comes to be thought of 
as the giver of all life. ' ' All of us, " the Aztecs said, 
' ' are children of water. ' * Tlaloc, their god of rain and 
water, is the fertilizer of the earth and lord of paradise. 
His wife dwells among the mountains where the clouds 
gather and pour down their streams. Among the Da- 
kotas, the master spirit of their sorcery and religion is 
said to be Unktahe, the god of the water, who dwells 
with his associates beneath the sea. The inland people 
of Sumatra, we are told, make an offering of cake and 
sweetmeats to the sea on beholding it for the first time. 
Among the Khonds of Orissa the priests often propi- 
tiate the rain-god with eggs and arrack and rice and a 
sheep. They believe that unless they do this, the seeds 
will rot in the ground, their children and cattle will die 
of want, the deer and the wild hog will seek other 
haunts. 

Although Xerxes tried to chain and scourge the Hel- 
lespont, he threw a golden goblet and a sword into its 
waters. Hannibal on leaving Carthage took scrupu- 
lous care to cast many animals into the sea as votive 
offerings to Poseidon. The famous Athenian prayer 
recorded by Marcus Aurelius reveals the classic con- 
ception of one of the chief functions of Zeus : " Rain, 
rain, O dear Zeus, on the plough-lands of the Athen- 
ians and the plains." In Vergil Oceanus is often 
spoken of as ' ' pater rerum. ' ' Water is used the world 



Steps in the Evolution of Religion 2 7 

over in libations and in acts of penitence and purifi- 
cation. Baptism by sprinkling or immersion has been 
a common sacred rite among all peoples. 

The Algonquins call the earth Mesukkummik Okwi 
and worship her as the great grandmother of all. 
They believe that the animals from whose flesh and 
skin the food and clothing of man are derived are in her 
care. No good Indian will dig for the roots from which 
his medicines are made until he has first sought her 
blessing. Otherwise, the roots would have no health- 
restoring power. The Incas of Peru at harvest time 
present ground corn and libations of chica to Mamapa- 
cha, Mother Earth, that she may grant them a good 
harvest. The negroes of West Africa before entering 
upon any great undertaking pour out their libations 
calling out, '' Creator, come drink ; Earth, come drink ; 
Bosumbra, come drink.'* Many of the natives of India 
always ofier some food to Mother Earth before eating. 
The Khonds being an intensely agricultural race 
recently carried the worship of the Earth-Mother to 
such excess that the practice of their rites had 
to be suppressed by the government. For they 
offered to her their slave-victims torn into small 
pieces and spread over the fields they were to 
fertilize. 

In the Chinese theology the earth holds a place next 
to heaven. The worship of Tien and Tu, Father 
Heaven and Mother Ivarth, by the bride and groom is 
an all-important part of a Chinese wedding ceremony. 
The Greeks prayed to Gaia as the all-mother, and 
Tacitus found the Germans practising the customs of 
his own country in worshipping ** Terrain matrem.'* 
The oldest god of Chaldean mythology was Ea, lord of 
the earth, without whose blessing no seeds would 



28 The Sphere of Religion 

germinate, the soil would have no fertilizing power, 
and there would be no harvests. 

The thunder-god of the ancient Hindus, who smites 
the dragon clouds and pours the rain down upon the 
earth ; the Thor of old German and Scandinavian my- 
thology, who hurls his crashing hammer through the 
air ; the Jupiter Tonans of the Romans ; the wind-gods 
who in all lands control the gale and the tempest, are 
but further illustrations of the prevalence of the tend- 
ency of all times and countries to pay special homage to 
the great forces of nature that are ever working such 
mighty wonders. But here again we need to notice 
that, as in the lower forms of religion already described, 
we do not find these forces worshipped as material ob- 
jects. They are always thought of as spirits manifesting 
superhuman powers. 

As the experience of man widens, he discovers not 
only that he can destroy the tree whose spirit he wor- 
shipped, and can entrap the animals and subdue them, 
but also that the sun, moon, and stars do not vary their 
action at their own option. They are obliged to move 
about in certain more or less prescribed courses. Even 
the clouds are driven to and fro by some superior power 
and are not free to follow their own desires. Hence he 
easily and naturally comes to see the truth that there 
must be powers above these forces that are far more 
worthy than they are of his homage. He rejects the 
notion that the forces of nature reveal the highest 
spirits, and he looks up to deities that can use these 
forces freely at their option. 

As distinguished from nature-worship and other 
lower forms of religion, this doctrine is called 
Polytheism, although it differs from these other 
forms not in kind but only in degree. Undoubt- 



Steps 171 the Evolution of Religion 29 

edly, the development of this doctrine is closely 
related to the development of the social and gov- 
ernmental relations existing among the people them- 
selves. When chiefs and kings begin to make their 
appearance in any community, then these greater 
gods begin to be recognised as over and above all lesser 
spirits. Oftentimes the kings and chiefs themselves 
are elevated to the sphere of gods, and in some cases, 
even while alive, receive divine honors. Rarely, how- 
ever, does polytheism do away with any of the lower 
forms of religion. On the contrary, it usually coexists 
with belief in disembodied spirits, local genii of rocks 
and fountains and trees, household gods, and a host of 
other good and evil demons. The deities of this form 
of religion simply take their place as presiding over all 
inferior gods, using them as messengers or agents for 
the furtherance of their plans and purposes. 

At first, each tribe or district is thought of as having 
its own particular deity. But as the tribes intermingle 
and learn more of one another, the tribal gods give way 
to national. At the outset the national gods of one 
country are regarded as distinct from those of another, 
but of equal powers. Even the ancient Hebrews con- 
sidered the gods of other nations, such as those of 
Assyria, Phoenicia, and Egypt, as real divinities. 

Many tribes and peoples have risen in some degree 
to the stage of polytheistic thought, but the nations 
that carried it to a higher degree of perfection than any 
others were the ancient Greeks and Romans. Cosily 
temples were erected to the honor of their gods. Elabo- 
rate ritualistic services were instituted to do them 
reverence. A great multitude of priests and priestesses 
devoted their lives to finding out and enforcing their 
will and purpose. The character and extent of this 



30 The Sphere of Religion 

form of religion are, however, so familiar that there is 
little need of further explanation of it here. 

This can hardl}^ be said of Monotheism, the next step 
in the evolution of religion. For there has been and in 
some quarters still is a great divergence of opinion re- 
garding its historic origin. For until within a few 
generations, it was the common belief of thinkers on 
the subject of religion that the knowledge of the exist- 
ence of one god was a primitive revelation, made to the 
first representatives of the human race, and handed down 
by them to their posterity. Polytheism and all other 
forms of religion, it was maintained, are a degeneration 
from a once higher form. But this view has few if any 
advocates among recent scholars. For it is now known 
that the tendency to the monotheistic position exists 
among all people when they have advanced to a certain 
degree of mental culture. As Jastrow well says : 
** There is a difference in the degree in which this ten- 
dency is emphasized, but whether we turn to Babylonia, 
Egypt, India, China, or Greece, there are distinct traces 
towards concentrating the varied manifestations of di- 
vine powers in a single source." 

This tendency is a perfectly natural one, and arises 
the moment man begins seriously to reflect upon the 
universe. He cannot fail to observe the inequalities 
that exist among the deities, and to realize that of ne- 
cessity one must be supreme to all the others. When 
any two peoples united as the result of war or for any 
other reason, the superior place would natural^ be ac- 
corded to the deity of the conquering power; and as a 
nation grew in influence and became conscious of its 
strength, it would gradually change its opinions regard- 
ing the gods of the nations about it. It would either 
do as the Greeks did in the case of Ammon, the god of 



Steps in the Evolution of Religion 3 1 

the Egyptians, recognize in him their own Zeus as ap - 
pearing in another form, or come to treat other gods as 
inferior deities not worthy of being compared with their 
own god, as the Hebrews looked upon Chemosh, 
the supreme god of the Moabites, in compar- 
ison with Jahveh, or Jehovah, their own national 
deity. 

It is a matter of history that monotheism did not 
originate in any one quarter alone, but was an idea at- 
tained independently by many peoples at a compara- 
tively early stage in their development. 

The chief contribution of the Hebrews to religion is 
not their monotheistic idea, but the emphasis they put 
upon the ethical character of their supreme deity. He 
was not mere power that goes stalking through the 
universe, but a being of righteousness that deals with 
men and nations according to their moral character. 
It was this view that caused the worship of Jehovah to 
supplant that of all the other gods among the Hebrews 
themselves, and to survive the crash of faiths that early 
befell the entire ancient world. 

In this brief outline of the main steps that have been 
taken in the development of religion, it is not claimed 
that any hard and fast distinction can be made between 
them. Indeed, it is the opinion of competent authori- 
ties that all the different forms of religion described 
above coexisted among the Hindus, the Greeks, the 
old Norsemen, and to some extent still coexist among 
modern Africans, as well as the negroes and Indians 
of our own land. Nor is it held that any sudden or 
complete transition from a lower to a higher stage has 
actually taken place at any time in history. On the 
contrary, the changes have been gradual, and many 
evidences of the survival of the old amid the new exist 



3 2 The Sphere of Religion 

in the notions and customs of even the most highly 
civilized and intelligent nations of our own day. 

Amulets, charms, lucky stones and coins, the ven- 
eration of sacred relics, everything that goes under the 
name of Mascot, are all legitimately descended from 
fetishism ; just as belief in ghosts and haunted houses, 
fear of the dark, and the like, come from a more pri- 
mary form of religion. Current ideas concerning lucky 
and unlucky days and numbers, spilling salt, throwing 
rice at a w^edding, charming away warts, are survivals 
of a similar sort. So, too, are the present notions of 
man as to sacred days and places, sacred utensils, holy 
water. And we should not hesitate to class in the list 
of primitive and outgrown religious ideas the worship 
of saints, and the common belief that a person acquires 
peculiar supernatural authority in religious matters by 
the laying on of hands, or by any other form of ordina- 
tion. For they are notions on a par with the old Greek 
tradition that one gets a supernatural inspiration by 
the very act of paying a visit to the fountain of Parnas- 
sus, or taking a draft at the Pierian spring. But the 
most striking of all is the present popular belief that 
between man and the Supreme Being there exists an 
ascending gradation of angels and archangels on the 
one hand, and evil spirits on the other, reaching up to 
a supreme evil demon, who, under the title of Devil or 
Satan, is supposed to be the author of the sin and 
misery of mankind. 

It might be objected to this outline of the develop- 
ment of religion that no place is left in it for the 
worship of idols. This omission is by no means an 
accident, for it is based on the conviction that idolatry 
is not an actual, or even a possible form of religion, if 
it is taken to mean that human beings have ever paid 



Steps in the Evolution of Religion 33 

divine honors to images made of wood or stone, or to 
any other material object. What the so-called idolater 
actually worships is the spirit that the image is sup- 
posed to represent. If he believes the spirit has gone 
out of the object or image, he treats it with undisguised 
contempt. 

That there is no real diflFerence between idolatiy and 
fetishism is well illustrated by the way the Chinese 
often treat the images of their gods. As described by 
an eye-witness, if after long praying they do not get 
what they wish, they call the god all the hard names 
they can think of, and cry out, ** How now, dog of a 
spirit ! we give 3'ou a lodging in a magnificent temple, 
we gild 3^ou handsomely, feed you well, and offer 
incense to you ; yet after all this care, you are so 
ungrateful as to refuse us what we ask of you." Then 
they pull the image down from its pedestal, tie cords 
around it, and drag it through the mud and offal of 
the streets to punish the god for the expense of the 
perfumery they have wasted upon him. 

Every image-maker the world over does his best to 
embody the ideas of the person for whom the image is 
made. He knows well enough that unless he does 
this, he will receive no compensation for his labor. 
When Brahma is represented with dozens of hands, 
Diana with a hundred breasts, and other greater or less 
deities with impossible features and accessories, it is 
simply an attempt to express the superhuman qualities 
of these beings, not to caricature their powers. 

If these steps in the evolution are approximately 
true to fact, we see how weak and erroneous the posi- 
tion is that makes religion the invention of priests and 
politicians for the purpose of terrorizing the people into 
submission to their authority, and securing the contin- 
3 



34 The Sphere of Religion 

uance of their power. This opinion was strongly ad- 
vocated by certain English writers of the eighteenth 
century, and had many followers ; among them the poet 
Shelley was one of the most prominent. It widely pre- 
vailed in France at the time of the Revolution, and 
was one of the chief causes of its horrors. Besides be- 
ing based on a false and superficial idea of what relig- 
ion is, it ignores the fact that religion is older than any 
form of priesthood. The priest is, in point of fact, 
a conservator, and not an innovator. He chiefly 
concerns himself with perpetuating what already is. 
His hold upon the community is primarily due to the 
influence religion has over men, not to his ability to 
manipulate that religion. He may, of course, unduly 
increase his influence, and turn religion into wrong 
channels for personal ends, but the extent to which he 
has done so is grossly exaggerated in many quarters. 
For such a claim cannot be borne out by a careful 
study of the historical facts. 

In the light of this view of the evolution of religion, 
we can see how irrational it is to divide religions into 
true and false, instead of classifying them as primitive 
and developed. It was maintained by Empedocles 
among the ancient Greeks that all religions are false 
because they are the product of a diseased mind, and 
Feuerbach in the last century strongly advocated the 
same view among the Germans. 

While few, if any, maintain that opinion at present, 
there are many who hold that all religions are false 
except one, and that the one they themselves have 
come to adopt. The Jew does this who asserts that 
God by a perpetual covenant, recorded in the Old 
Testament, has made his own race the sole repository 
of his will. The Islamite does this who regards the 



Steps in the Evolution of Religion 35 

Koran alone as the sole guide to truth and life. And 
the Christian who sees in the New Testament the only 
source of religious faith and practice belongs to the 
same class. No writer has given us a more vivid 
picture of the erroneous way of regarding the religions 
of the world than Milton in his Paradise Lost, That 
all religions except the Christian are pure inventions 
of the Devil to ensnare the unwary is his fundamental 
thought. 

This position has been the source of untold mischief 
and suffering in the past, and immensely impedes the 
progress of mankind at present. It is contrary to 
actual fact, and is based upon the false assumption 
that man possesses the ability to acquire absolute cer- 
tainty in religious matters, a thing which is denied to 
him in every other sphere. 

The truth is that man's religion develops as he him- 
self develops. The steps in the evolution of religion 
are the steps in his own mental advancement. There 
is never a time after he comes into conscious possession 
of his powers as a person when he is without religion, 
and there is no possibility of his outgrowing religion. 
He does not get his religion out of any book, but pri- 
marily out of the experiences of his own mind and 
heart. The experiences of others are a help to him 
only as he reproduces them in his own. The more sen- 
sual he is, the more sensual will be his religion, and 
the more rational and pure his life is, the more refined 
and spiritual will his religion become. In other words, 
the more of a man he is himself, the loftier will his con- 
ception be of the Maker and Sustainer of all truth and 
life. 

The reason for this is that every man is so con- 
structed that he must make his god in his own image. 



36 The Sphere of Religion 

Religion arises in the ability of man to form an ideal of 
things that transcend the real. A man without imagi- 
nation would be without religion, for he would be no 
longer a man, but would have sunk down to the level 
of the brute. No man ever worshipped an abstraction. 
He pays homage only to some concrete thing, and his 
ability to form a picture of a Power higher than him- 
self depends upon his imagination, which simply takes 
the highest in his own experience and attributes it to 
his god. This has been true of man in all stages of his 
history, is true now, and we cannot think of a time 
when it will be otherwise. 

The charge that religion is anthropomorphic is ad- 
mitted without hesitation. For this is true of every- 
thing beyond the merely physical, of which we have 
any knowledge. We cannot think of any being above 
ourselves, unless we assume that being to be in some 
respects at least in our own image. It is psycho- 
logically impossible not to do so, if we make the 
attempt at all. Every man must worship his own 
thought of God, and his progress in civilization is best 
measured by the worthiness of that thought. The re- 
ligious nature of man, when once aroused, can never 
be lulled to rest. It must feed upon something. For 
it is the most fundamental and pervasive of all man's 
powers. It is perpetually yearning for expression, and 
can only for a time be partially smothered. It will 
reach its full and complete fruition in every one of us 
only when we come to realize in our own experience 
the most commonplace and yet truest saying of all the 
ages upon this subject, that the highest of all exist- 
ences in this universe is * ' not far from every one of us ; 
for in him we live and move and have our being.*' 



CHAPTER III. 

SACRKD BOOKS AND HOW THKY ORIGINATE. 

a. The Sacred Tablets of the Babylonians.— 

In treating of the subject of the relation of bibles 
to religion we need, first of all, to note the fact 
that three things existed in this world long before 
there were any bibles, namely, nature, man, and 
God. 

The '* little speck of matter " in our stellar universe 
which we call the earth had passed through innumer- 
able changes in form and condition ages before man 
appeared upon its surface, and man had established 
elaborate systems of religious worship on many por- 
tions of our planet centuries before a bible of any 
description had even been thought of. For the mo- 
ment a human being begins to attain a consciousness 
of his own existence and the existence of a world 
around and above him, he forms at once some sort of 
religion, and there is never a time in his histor>' as a 
man when he is without religion. 

Hence a very little reflection will lead us to see that 
a bible cannot be brought into existence until man has 
had some experience with nature and has learned to 
look with some degree of clearness through nature up 
to superhuman powers. No bible can create this ex- 
perience. All it can do is to record what has been 
experienced in the past and anticipate with more or 
less assurance what may come within the reahii of 

37 



38 The Sphere of Religion 

future experience. Religion, therefore, cannot be based 
upon any bible. On the contrary, it is religion that 
makes bibles, not bibles religion. 

Nevertheless, the content and form of religion may 
come to be immensely affected by their influence, and 
such has been the historic fact. Every religion of any 
moment in the world has sooner or later found itself in 
possession of a bible in which it treasured up its pro- 
foundest thoughts and its noblest inspirations. It is, 
therefore, our present purpose to state very briefly the 
leading features of some of these bibles, to set forth the 
opinion of scholars as to how they grew to be what they 
now are, and at the same time to estimate in a general 
way their value to the cause of religion in Qur day. 
Taking them up, as far as possible, in their chronologi- 
cal order, we mention first of all the Sacred Tablets of 
the Babylonians. 

There is at present no agreement among scholars as 
to what portion of the earth first produced a permanent 
record of its religious life, and many are of the opinion 
that the origin of civilization will never be traced to any 
one people or country. All, however, now admit that 
the Sacred Tablets recently unearthed in Babylonia are 
among the oldest literary records of any sort yet dis- 
covered, and that they carry us back to a date far be- 
yond the wildest dreams of scholars a half-century 
ago. 

As early as 1842 M. Botta, a Frenchman, began mak- 
ing excavations in a mound on the left bank of the 
Tigris, not far from Mosul. In it he discovered the 
ruins of a magnificent palace. From the inscriptions 
on the walls and from other data it was shown that the 
palace was erected by Sargon II., who reigned over 
Assyria from 721 B.C. to 705 B.C. Inspired by Botta's 



The Sacred Tablets of the Babylonians 39 

remarkable successes, Sir Austin Henry Layard, an 
eminent English archaeologist, a few years later started 
to open some mounds on the opposite bank of the river 
a few miles to the south of Mosul. The result was that 
he soon unearthed the remains of the ancient city of 
Nineveh, bringing to light many palaces and temples 
still filled with the sculptured treasures of literature and 
art. 

His principal find, however, was a great collection of 
clay tablets, covered with cuneiform or wedge-shaped 
inscriptions, which turned out to be the famous ro3^al 
*' brick" library gathered by Asshurbanipal, who suc- 
ceeded to the Assyrian throne in 668 B.C. Some 
30,000 fragments of this library are now in the British 
Museum and, together with the notable finds made 
shortly after by H. Rassam and George Smith, give us 
on the whole a most satisfactory knowledge of the re- 
ligious beliefs and rites of this ancient people. 

But what is still more remarkable, recent discoveries 
show us that these tablets take us back to a time far 
more remote than that of Asshurbanipal, or even of the 
existence of the Assyrians as a nation. In 1854 Sir 
Henry RawHnson began uncovering the sites of the 
ancient cities of Babylonia. The French and German 
governments later took up the work. Expeditions from 
the University of Pennsylvania led by Dr. John C. 
Peters and Professor Hilprecht have within the last few 
years explored the region of Nippur and Mugheir, the 
biblical Ur of the Chaldees. From the material thus 
acquired it is now ascertained that the tablets of Layard 
are copies of originals found in the far more ancient 
Babylonian temples, and that they go back to a time 
much earlier than anything found in the mounds of 
Assyria proper. In fact, scholars now tell us that the 



40 The Sphere of Religion 

religion of Assyria was borrowed from and was identi- 
cal with that of Babylonia, and it is the opinion of 
many that these tablets acquaint us with ideas and con- 
ditions that had come to be current in that part of the 
world at least 4500 years B.C. Even then there 
existed a number of states with well-established govern- 
ments, and an extensive religious cult. 

These tablets show us that the ancient Babylonians 
and Assyrians were a very religious people. Their 
wars were carried on in the name of the gods and so 
indeed were all other important undertakings. The 
priests were not only the intermediaries between the 
gods and the people, but also the judges of the courts, 
the scribes, and the medical advisers. 

There is no good reason for holding that the Baby- 
lonians obtained their religious ideas from any outside 
source. ''The earliest religion of Accad (the ancient 
name of Upper Babylonia) was," says A. H. Sayce, '' a 
Shamanism resembling that of the Siberian or Samoyed 
tribes of to-day. Every object had its spirit, good or 
bad ; and the control of these spirits was in the hands 
of priests and sorcerers. The world swarmed with 
them, especially with the demons, and there was 
scarcely any action which did not risk demoniac pos- 
session.'' The tablets reveal a fully developed system 
of nature-worship. Anu represents the heavens ; Sha- 
mash, the sun ; Sin, the moon; and Raman, the weather. 
The head of the Assyrian pantheon was Asshur or 
Assur, and the chief national god of Babylon was Mar- 
duk. ''The most striking difference," says Prof D. 
G. Lyon, ' ' between the pantheons of Assyria and Baby- 
lonia is that Asshur had no place in the latter, while 
Marduk has place in the former, though not the first 
place." 



The Sacred Tablets of the Babylojiians 41 

There was a strong tendency among these people to 
group their gods in triads, and this accounts for some 
of their cosmological views. The most important triad 
consisted of Anu, the god of the heavens ; Bel or Baal, 
the god of the earth ; and Ea, the god of the watery 
abyss. The usual way of representing the gods was 
by symbols, or by the combination of the human form 
with that of some animal. The moon, for example, 
was often represented by the number 30, and a winged 
bull with a human head represented the divine 
guardian of temples and palaces. 

The inscriptions on these tablets in the British 
Museum are written partly in prose and partly in 
poetry. The prose pieces tell us of royal campaigns, 
the building of temples, omens lucky and unlucky, and 
the like. They are supposed to belong to the historical 
period, and may be dated with considerable exactness. 
The poetical parts consist of prayers, hymns, magic 
formulas, incantations, and especially fragments of 
cosmological and other mythical poems that "appear 
to go back, at least so far as their material is concerned, 
to a very remote antiquity.'* 

One of the tablets gives an account of creation which 
very closely resembles the account in Genesis and the 
Sacred Books of the Phoenicians. All place the begin- 
ning of things in a watery abyss. Another tablet 
describes how the gods made a beautiful land with 
rivers and trees and put men in it ; the place being in 
all probability the same region as the Garden of Kden 
described in Genesis. Accounts are also given of the 
Flood, the origin of the Sabbath, and fragments of 
stories resembling those of the fall of man, the Tower 
of Babel or Babylonia, and the sacrifice of Isaac. Ac- 
cording to Professor Toy, whose translations are here 



42 The Sphere of Religion 

used, the first of the tablets describing creation reads 
as follows : 

**i. When the upper region was not yet called heaven, 

2. And the lower region was not yet called earth, 

3. And the abyss of Hades had not yet opened its arms, 

4. Then the chaos of waters gave birth to all of them 

5. And the waters were gathered into one place. 

6. No men yet dwelt together ; no animals yet wandered 

about ; 

7. None of the gods had yet been born. 

8. Their names were not spoken ; their attributes were not 

known. 

9. Then the eldest of the gods, 

10. Lakhmu and Lakhamu, were born 

11. And grew up. 

12. Assur and Kissur w^ere born next 

13. And lived through long periods. 

14. Anu (Rest of tablet missing.)'* 

The fifth tablet continues the account of creation 
and describes the origin of the Sabbath : 

*' I. He constructed dwellings for the great gods. 

2. He fixed up constellations, whose figures were like 

animals. 

3. He made the year. Into four quarters he divided it. 

4. Twelve months he established, with their constellations 

three by three. 

5. And for the days of the year he appointed festivals. 

6. He made dwellings for the planets : for their rising and 

setting. 

7. And that nothing should go amiss, and that the course of 

none should be retarded 

8. He placed with them the dwellings of Bel and Ba. 

9. He opened great gates, on every side : 

10. He made strong the portals, on the left and on the right. 

11. In the centre he placed luminaries. 

12. The moon he appointed to rule the night 

13. And to wander through the night, until the dawn of day. 

14. Every month without fail he made holy assembly days. 



The Sacred Tablets of the Babylonians 43 

15. In the beginning of the month, at the rising of the night, 

16. It shot forth its horns to illuminate the heavens. 

17. On the seventh day he appointed a holy day, 

18. And to cease from all business he commanded. 

19. Then arose the sun in the horizon of heaven in (glory)." 

The longest and in some respects the most consider- 
able of these Babylonian productions is what is com- 
monly known as the Izdubar poem discovered by 
George Smith in 1872. It is inscribed upon twelve 
tablets, some of which are well preserved. The first 
introduces the hero and represents him as the deliverer 
of his country from the Elamites, an event probably 
preceding 2000 B.C. The sixth recounts the love of 
the goddess Ishtar for the hero, to whom she proposes 
marriage, but the proposal is rejected because of the 
fatal character of her previous loves. Then she curses 
her lover and follows him continuously with her wrath. 
She descends into the lower world for means to circum- 
vent him. The seventh tablet gives a lengthy account 
of what takes place there. 

The most interesting tablet of this series is the elev- 
enth. In it we have a story of the Flood "almost 
identical with that of the Book of Genesis.'* Bel, the 
demiurge of the Babylonian system, enraged at the 
evil conduct of mankind, determines to destroy the en- 
tire human race by a flood. All the other gods give 
their approval except Ea, who, hearing of the decree, 
sends for Hasisadra, the Noah of those days, and di-. 
rects him to build a great ship in order to save himself 
and family and " the seeds of life." 

Ea's words to him are : 
** ' Leave thy house and build a shij). 

They will destroy the seeds of life. 

Do thou preserve in life and hither bring the seeds of life, 

Of every sort into tht- ship.' " 



44 ^^^ Sphere of Religion 

(Here follow the dimensions of the ship, but the 
numbers are lost.) 

Hasisadra hesitates and says that, even if he should 
succeed in carrying out such a colossal undertaking, 
he would be mocked by the people and elders for doing 
it. Ea, however, insists and the ship is built. Into 
it, says Hasisadra, 

*^ * All that I had I brought together, 
All of silver and all of gold, 

And all of the seed of life into the ship I brought. 
And my household, men and women, 
The cattle of the field, the beasts of the field 
And all my kin I caused to enter.' '* 

On the day he was to embark fear almost over- 
whelmed him. He says : 

** * Yet into the ship I went, behind me the door I closed. 

Into the hands of the steersman I gave the ship with its cargo. 

Then from the heavens* horizon rose the dark cloud. 

Raman uttered his thunder, 

Nabu and Sarru rushed on. 

Over hill and dale strode the throne-bearers. 

Adar sent ceaseless streams, floods the Anunnaki brought. 

Raman's billows up to heaven mount. 
All light to darkness is turned.' " 

. Even the gods themselves were frightened at the 
havoc that was made and cowered together in lamenta- 
tion and despair. But, says Hasisadra, 

** ^Six days and seven nights ruled wind and flood and storm. 
But when the seventh day broke, subsided the storm and the 
flood. 

. ..•• •* • 

The upper dwellings of men were ruined. 
Corpses floated like trees. 



The Sacred Tablets of the Babylonia7is 45 

A window I opened, on my face the daylight fell. 

I shuddered and sat me down weeping. 

Over my face flowed my tears. 

I rode over regions of land, on a terrible sea. 

Then rose one piece of land twelve measures high. 

To the land Nizir the ship was steered. 

The mountain Nizir held the ship fast and let it no more go.' '* 

Then follows an account of the sending forth of a 
dove, the final appearance of dry land, the disembark- 
ment from the ship, and the building of an altar to the 
gods on the mount. Hasisadra says: 

** * At the dawn of the seventh day 
I took a dove and sent it forth. 
Hither and thither flew the dove. 
No resting-place it found, back to me it came. 
A swallow I took and sent it forth. 
No resting-place it found, and back to me it came. 
A raven I took and sent it forth. 

Forth flew the raven and saw that the water had fallen. 
Carefully waded on but came not back. 
All the animals then to the four winds I sent. 
A sacrifice I off^ered. 
An altar I built on the mountain top.' " 

About this altar the gods hold a council. They try 
to induce Bel to abate his efforts utterly to annihilate 
the race of men. Ea says to him : 
*' * Thou art the valiant leader of the gods. 
Why hast thou heedlessly wrought and brought on the flood? 
Let the sinner bear his sin, the wrongdoer his wrong ; 
Yield to our request, that he be not wholly destroyed. 
Instead of sending a flood, send lions that men may be 

reduced ; 
Instead of sending a flood, send hyenas that men may be 

reduced ; 
Instead of sending a flood, send flames to waste the land ; 
Instead of sending a flood, send pestilence that men may be 
reduced.* '* 



46 The Sphere of Religion 

Finally ' ' right reason ' ' comes to Bel and he enters 
the ship, takes Hasisadra by the hand, and lifts him 
up. Then he raises up his wife and places her hand 
in her husband's, giving them both his blessing. 

Professor Toy in commenting upon the inscription 
on this tablet says : ** It is now generally agreed that 
the Hebrew story of the Flood is taken from the Baby- 
lonian, either mediately through the Canaanites (for 
the Babylonians had occupied Canaan before the six- 
teenth century B.C.), or immediately during the exile 
in the sixth century. The Babylonian account is more 
picturesque, the Hebrew more restrained and solemn.'* 

Some of the hymns inscribed on these tablets, like 
the one to the seven evil spirits celebrating their mys- 
terious power, are of a lower order of religious feeling, 
reminding us of the magical incantations of the savage 
tribes of to-day. But others indicate sublimity and 
depth of feeling that would compare not unfavorably 
with many in the Hebrew Psalter. 

The following are extracts from some of these so- 
called psalms : 

** I, thy servant, fuU of sin cry to thee. 
The sinner's earnest prayer thou dost accept. 
The man on whom thou lookest Hves. 
Mistress of all, queen of mankind, 
Merciful one, to whom it is good to turn. 
Who acceptest the sigh of the heart.'* 

** Food have I not eaten, weeping was my nourishment. 
Water have I not drunk, tears were my drink. 
My heart has not been joyful nor my spirit glad. 
Many are my sins, sorrowful my soul. 
O my lady, make me to know my doing. 
Make me a place of rest. 
Cleanse my sin, lift up my face." 



The Sacred Tablets of the Babyloniaris 47 

*' I sought for help, but no one took my hand. 
I wept, but no one to me came. 
I cry aloud, there is none that hears me. 
Sorrowful I lie on the ground, look not up. 
The feet of my goddess I kiss. 
To the known and unknown god I loud do sigh. 
To the known and unknown goddess I loud do sigh. 
O lord, look on me, hear my prayer. 
O goddess, look on me, hear my prayer.** 

The sin I have committed turn thou to favor ! 

The evil I have done may the wind carry it away ! 

Tear in pieces my wrong-doings like a garment ! 

My god, my sins are seven times seven — forgive my sin ! 

My goddess, my sins are seven times seven — forgive my sin ! 

Known and unknown god, my sins are seven times seveu — 

forgive my sins ! 
Known and^unknown goddess, my sins are seven times seveu ; 

forgive my sins. 
Forgive my sins and I will humbly bow before thee." 

Among the fragments of Asshurbanipal's library 
taken to the British Museum by Layard were a num- 
ber of broken portions of a law code. These fragments 
were declared at the time by two eminent German 
scholars. Dr. Bruno Meissner and Dr. Friedrich De- 
litzsch, to be parts of a code reaching as far back at 
least as 2300 B.C. Their opinion had a most triumph- 
ant vindication in the winter of 190 1-2, when there was 
unearthed in the ruins of the ancient Persian city of 
Susa the stele or column of Hammurabi, now uni- 
versally acknowledged to be "the most important 
monument of early civilization yet discovered — a law 
code anteceding the oldest hitherto known by upwartl 
of a thousand years." 

This monolith, now in llie I/nivrc at Paris, is seven 
feet four inches in hcii;lil, and on it are chiselled ht^lh a 



48 The Sphere of Religion 

bas-relief and an extended text. The bas-relief, which 
is twenty-six inches high and twenty-four inches broad, 
represents Hammurabi in the act of adoring the sun- 
god Shamash, from whom he receives the laws in- 
scribed on the rest of this *' table of stone/' They 
consist of a prologue, an epilogue, and 282 edicts. 

In the prologue Hammurabi thus describes his mis- 
sion (Harper's translation of the code is here used) : 
' ' Anu and Bel called me, Hammurabi, the exalted 
prince, the worshipper of the gods, to cause justice to 
prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil, 
to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak, to go 
forth like Shamash over the Black Head Race, to 
enlighten the land and further the welfare of the 
people.'' 

The analysis of the code made by Professor Lyon of 
Harvard divides it into three main parts : the intro- 
duction, which deals with the source of justice and 
what should be done to insure the purity of the court 
(1-5); a section on property, both real and personal, 
along with the laws relating to its exchange (6-126); 
and a section on the rights and duties of persons, in 
which such matters are taken up as marriage and di- 
vorce, the treatment of criminals, and the price to be 
paid for different kinds of labor (127-282). 

According to this code, if a judge had accepted a bribe 
in making a decision, he was obliged to pay twelve 
times the amount of the false judgment and was ex- 
pelled from the bench. The thief and the receiver of 
stolen goods were held equally responsible. In case a 
drought or a flood destroyed a debtor's crops, interest 
could not be demanded of him that year. If any one 
failed to keep his part of the dyke in good repair, he 
was liable for all damage resulting therefrom. When 



The Sacred Tablets of the Babylonians 49 

a man divorced his wife, he was obliged to give her an 
allowance and make good the dowr}^ she received from 
her father. 

The lex talionis was applied in some cases. For ex- 
ample: " If a man destroy the eye of another man, they 
shall destroy his eye." '' If one break a man's bone, 
they shall break his bone." *' If a man knock out the 
tooth of a man of his own rank, they shall knock out 
his tooth." *' If a builder build a house for a man and 
do not make its construction firm, and the house which 
he has built collapse and cause the death of the owner 
of the house, that builder shall be put to death." 

Surgeons received a good fee if their patient recovered, 
but if he died they had to pay a heavy money fine or 
suffer a severe corporeal punishment, even to the ampu- 
tation of their fingers. The wages of field-laborers, 
shepherds, artisans, boatmen, and the like were fixed 
by law, and they were all held responsible for any loss. 

The epilogue of the code concludes as follows: *' Let 
any oppressed man, who has a cause, come before my 
image asking of righteousness! Let him read the in- 
scription on my monument! Let him give heed to my 
weighty words! . . . Let him read the code and 
pray with a full heart before Marduk, my lord, and 
Zarpanit, my lady; and may the protecting deities, the 
gods who enter E-sagila, daily in the midst of E-sagila 
look with favor on his wishes in the presence of Marduk, 
my lord, and Zarpanit, my lady." 

These exhortations make it altogether probable that 
the original column was set up before I{-sagila, the great 
Marduk temple in Babylon. The fragments of this 
code, found in other parts of the kingdom, are probably 
what is now left of copies of it. 

Hammurabi, the autlior of the code, is identified by 
4 



5o The Sphere of Religion 

many Assyriologists with Amraphel of Genesis xiv. , i . 
He was the sixth king of the first Babylonian dynasty, 
and came to the throne in 2250 B.C. In his day the whole 
of Babylonia was first united under one sway, and ex- 
tended not only over Elam and Assyria, but as far west 
as the Mediterranean Sea, thus including Syria and 
Palestine. The code which he drew up is considered to 
be a compilation from a number of earlier codes. The 
discovery of many contract tablets antedating his reign 
abundantly proves that he made use of laws and legal 
phraseology which had become traditional in his day. 

Before the discovery of the code of Hammurabi, the 
oldest known collection of laws was a portion of the 
Old Testament. The ancient Egyptian code referred to 
by Diodorus Siculus (57 B.C.) has never been recovered, 
and the Hindu Laws of Manu (c. 950 B.C.) and the 
Twelve Tables of Rome (c. 450 B.C.) are confessedly 
younger. The Pentateuchal code is now regarded as 
a compilation made up of earlier and later elements, the 
oldest portion being the Book of the Covenant referred 
to in Exodus xxiv., 7. This Book of the Covenant, 
scholars tell us, is the portion of the Old Testament 
recorded in Ex. xx., 22-xxiii., 33. 

Now when we compare this civil and criminal code 
with the code of Hammurabi, the likenesses in form of 
statement and subject-matter are too numerous to admit 
of the explanation that they are purely accidental. The 
only satisfactory position is that the earliest portion of 
the Mosaic code was largely taken from the much older 
Hammurabic code. 

' *When the Hebrews effected a settlement in Canaan,*' 
says Professor Kellner, ''they found there a people 
greatly their superior in culture; learning from this 
people the arts of civilization they gradually passed 



The Sacred Tablets of the Babylonians 51 

from the unsettled life of nomad herdsmen into that of 
settled agriculturalists. Their new home had long been 
under Babylonian influence. For centuries, certainly 
since the days of Abraham, which were also the days of 
Hammurabi, the rule of Babylon had extended to the 
shores of the Mediterranean Sea; and at the time of 
the Zel-el-Amarna tablets (c. 1450 B.C.), shortly before 
the Hebrew settlement in Canaan, not only, as these let- 
ters show, was there a lively intercourse with Babylon, 
but the Babylonian language and cuneiform writing 
were actually used throughout Palestine in carrying on 
international communication. " The Hebrews appropri- 
ated freely many Babylonian legends concerning the 
early history of the world. Even their *' Sabbath, both 
in name and institution, was of Babylonish origin." 
Nothing was more natural for them to do under the 
circumstances than to adapt to their own needs the 
Babylonian law which had long been in use in Canaan 
before they arrived there. 

It must always be remembered that the Babylonian 
literature includes the Assyrian. For civilization in 
that part of the earth was first established in Babylonia. 
It is claimed by some students of recent discoveries 
made in Nippur that its beginning can now be traced 
back even to 5000 or 6000 B.C. Certain it is that 
religious thought and feeling had reached a high degree 
of development among the Babylonians many centuries 
before the time of Moses or David, and that the religion 
of the Jews was greatly affected by its influence. Fur- 
thermore, it is clear from the quotations cited above that 
the vSacred Tablets of the Bal^ylonians did not create 
their religion, ])ut simply recorded what, for a long time 
before they were written, had come to be commonly 
believed. 



52 The Sphere of Religion 

b. The Egyptian Book of the Dead.— The 

chief monument of the religious life of the ancient 
Egyptians is entitled the Book of the Dead. The 
great mass of the religious literature of Egypt is 
written in imitation of it, or is made up of extracts 
from its contents. In some respects it is the most 
complete account of the primitive religious beliefs of 
mankind of which we have any knowledge. 

No people, ancient or modern, have ever equalled 
the ancient Egyptians in the care they bestowed upon 
their dead. It seems to have been the dominating 
purpose of their lives to secure the happiness of their 
deceased in the future world, whatever may have been 
their condition in this. No one can rightly understand 
their civilization unless it is considered from this point 
of view. 

The Book of the Dead was called by the Egyp- 
tians themselves the ' * Book of Coming Forth in the 
Daytime," from the opening words of the first chap- 
ter, which starts out with a promise to give to the 
ka of the; deceased the power of visiting the upper 
world. 

According to the opinion .of that age and people 
every person consisted of three parts, a mortal cor- 
ruptible body called the cka, a living soul or vital 
principle to which the term ba was applied, and the 
ka, a sort of spiritual double or protecting genius, 
which was the inseparable companion of every in- 
dividual, growing up as he grew and never forsaking 
him. At death the ba was supposed to leave the body 
in the form of a bird, which was often represented with 
the head and arms of a human being, and to fly up 
directly to the abode of the gods. The ka, however, 
dwelt in the tomb with the body. At any time it 



The Egyptian Book of the Dead 53 

could at will enter the body and reanimate it. A small 
passageway a few inches square was frequently made 
in the walls of the tomb for the egress and ingress of 
the ka. False doors were sometimes constructed for 
its exclusive use. The personal existence of the de- 
parted spirit depended absolutely upon the preservation 
of the body, which must always be kept in a suitable 
condition for its spiritual visitor. It must never be- 
come '* a mass of worms," but " remain as imperishable 
as the flesh of the gods." 

Consequently the body at death was carefully em- 
balmed as soon as the ba had left it. Linen bandages 
were wrapped around it and it was placed in a coflSn, 
upon the boards of which texts from the Book of the 
Dead were inscribed, in order that the deceased might 
have the use of them in passing through the perils of 
the lower world. Frequently these texts were written 
upon the linen bandages themselves, or put upon little 
scrolls, which were rolled up and placed under the 
armpits of the mummy, or hung about its neck. 

Accompanied by the relatives, friends, and many 
hired mourners, if the family were able to afford them, 
the body was carried to the place of burial, which was 
always on the west bank of the Nile toward the setting 
sun. Here the priCvSts read extracts from the Book of 
the Dead, burned incense, and made offerings, as they 
committed the body to the tomb. 

vSiiice the deceased was supposed to take with him 
all of the appetites and desires of the body, abundant 
provision had to be made for all its wants. Alabaster 
figures of fowls, loaves of bread, little wooden wine- 
jars, and wooden statuettes of cooks and bakers were 
placed in the tonil), all of which could be ininicdiately 
changed into real objects at the o])ti()ii ol the deceased, 



54 The Sphere of Religion 

provided the right magical text from the Book of the 
Dead was at hand for his use. 

In the same way the deceased could take with him 
his favorite games and other means of recreation. 
Actual voyages could be made by him in little imi- 
tation boats with miniature oars and rowers. And, 
above all, he could avoid the necessity of labor in the 
future world if he had with him a number of statuettes 
of laborers to answer for him when any work was 
assigned to him, provided he was furnished with the 
appropriate formulas from the Book of the Dead for 
giving them reality. Texts from the book were in- 
scribed upon the tomb, and visitors were adjured to 
repeat them for the benefit of the deceased that he 
might have the enjoyment of "thousands of bread, 
beer, oxen, and geese " in his place among the gods. 

These facts concerning some of the uses of the Book 
of the Dead among the ancient Egyptians will illus- 
trate how important the book was in their eyes. But 
before we can understand in any real way its teachings, 
or duly appreciate the illustrations of events in the 
lower world that it contains, we must know something 
of the ideas concerning the gods that had become 
prevalent at the time the book was written. 

Egyptologists seem now to be agreed that the re- 
ligion of ancient Egypt originated in a purely local 
fetishism, and was not in an^^ sense a borrowed product. 
'* Every village of prehistoric times,'' says a high 
authority, '' seems to have had its own god or demon, 
worshipped in some object, usually a tree or an ani- 
mal." Out of this chaos of deities it gradually came 
about that as some one village grew into a city and 
acquired sovereignty over neighboring villages the god 
of that city became the Great God, and the other gods 



The Egyptian Book of the Dead 5 5 

were brought into some subordinate relation to him as 
a member of his household. In this way every princi- 
pal deity came to be surrounded by a circle of gods and 
there often resulted the formation of a local Triad of 
gods consisting of father, mother, and son. 

In some localities in very early times the bull was 
chiefly worshipped ; in others, such animals as the 
goat, the ram, the cat, the dog, the ibis, the beetle, 
and the crocodile. Whatever animal or object was 
selected, it was regarded as the principal local deity. 
As the ideas of the people became more refined and 
spiritual, some of the gods took on in part the human 
form. In general the trunk of the human body came to 
be attributed to a god, while he kept the head of the 
animal in which he was before incarnated. 

In this way the extremely grotesque forms which 
are attributed to many of the Egyptian gods in the 
pictures contained in the Book of the Dead are to be 
accounted for. Thus Ptah, the god of Memphis, ap- 
pears as the apis-bull ; Hapi and Amon of Thebes, as 
rams; Anubis of Lycopolis, as a jackal-headed man ; 
Bast of Bubastis, as a cat-headed woman ; Horus of 
Edfu, as a hawk-headed man. Thoth of Hermopolis is 
usually represented with the trunk of a man and the 
head of an ibis. Osiris is the god of Abydos, the chief 
burial-place of Egypt, and the lord of the lower world. 
He was married to Isis his sister, by whom he had two 
sons, Horus, who was the bringer of light, and Set, 
the god of darkness. 

Before Osiris every person on leaving this world was 
summoned for judgment. He was assisted by forty- 
two judges or '* Assessors," one from each of the forty- 
two districts into which Upper and Lower Egypt were 
originally divided. Osiris and these assessors decided 



56 The Sphere of Religion 

the momentous question as to whether the newcomer 
was fit to enter the fields of Amenti and take up his 
residence in the abode of the blessed. 

A very ancient papyrus of the Book of the Dead, 
found recently in Thebes and now deposited in the 
Royal Museum at Berlin, contains among other unique 
illustrations of the events in the lower world a very 
striking representation of this last judgment. The 
scene is taken from the 125th chapter, entitled, *' The 
Weighing of the Heart.'* In the lower section of 
this picture the deceased is being led into a large 
subterranean hall by Mat, the goddess of truth and 
justice, mistress of the nether world. At the oppo- 
site end of what is called in the text ' * The Great Hall 
of Truth," Osiris is seated on a naos or throne ready to 
hear the newcomer. In the middle of the hall is a 
large pair of delicately balanced scales in one pan of 
which hawk-headed Horus has placed the heart of the 
deceased, and in the other jackal-headed Anubis, the 
god of embalmers, has put a feather, the symbol of 
truth and justice. On the top of the scales is seated 
the dog Hapi, the god of measure. To the rear of 
Anubis is ibis-headed Thoth, the scribe of the gods, 
who stands with pen in hand to register the decision. 
Between Horus and Osiris is a female hippopotamus 
with the head of a crocodile who stands ready to de- 
vour the newcomer, if he fails to pass the required 
ordeal. 

In the upper section of the picture the deceased is on 
his knees addressing a prayer to the forty- two judges, 
who have heads representing a great variety of animals 
and who carry in their hands a feather, the symbol of 
their office. They each have to pass sentence upon 
some particular sin as the accused pronounces before 



The Egyptian Book of the Dead 5 7 

them the famous Negative Confession. Much of the 
matter in the Book of the Dead is to us meaningless 
jargon. But some extracts taken here and there from 
the petitions in the book for the deceased to use on 
entering the judgment hall of Osiris are as follows : 

** Do not imprison my vSoul. Do not let any hurt me. 
May I sit down among the principal gods in their 
dwellings ? If you repel me from the places of regener- 
ation, do not let the evil principles take hold of me. 
Do not let me be repelled from your gates ; be not your 
gates closed against me. May I have loaves in Pu, 
drinks in Tepu. Grant to me the funeral food and 
drinks, the oxen, the geese, the fabrics, the incense, the 
oil, and all the good and pure things upon which the 
gods live. May I be eternally settled in the transforma- 
tions that will please me. May I be united with the 
gods of truth.'' (Quoted from Warner). 

The following are similar extracts from the Negative 
Confession made before the forty- two assessors : 

*' I did not bid any one kill treacherously. I did not 
lie to any man. I did not plunder the supplies in the 
temple. I did not overcharge. I did not tamper with 
the weight of the balance. I was not a bully. I did 
not use too many words in speaking. I did not turn a 
deaf ear to the words of truth. I did not make my 
mouth work. I did not steal. I was pure, pure, pure. 
I did not do what the gods hate. I did not cause the 
slave to be misused by his master. I did not cause any 
one to be hungry. I did not cause any one to weep. 
I did not commit adultery. I did not kill. I prevailed 
as a man that keeps his head." (Quoted from 
Warner.) 

It is admitted that in this 1 25th chapter we have one of 
the oldest known codes of private and public morality. 



58 The SpJiere of Religion 

John Newenham Hoarein his article on '' The Religion 
of the Ancient Egyptians" in the Niyicteenth Coitury 
says of it : '* That which strikes one most in the 125th 
chapter is the profound insight that ever\' work shall be 
brought into judgment, and every secret thing, whether 
it be good or evil. It is the voice of conscience which 
accuses or excuses in that solemn hour, for no accuser 
appears in the Hall, the man's whole life is seen by 
himself in its true light." 

Besides the scenes of the Last Judgment and the 
Negative Confession, the book abounds in speeches and 
prayers to be addressed to the gods and other beings 
whom the departed will meet in his various migrations. 
The place into which he is finalh^ ushered is described 
with considerable vagueness, but for the most part it 
resembled the region of the Nile. A broad river flowed 
through it which was divided into numerous branches. 
Islands covered with fruitful fields existed on ever}' side. 
The justified had a share in tilling the fields, and they 
were always rewarded with sure and abundant har^'ests. 

The Book of the Dead is admitted b}' all scholars to 
be a conglomerate made up of accretions during long 
periods of time. Some parts of it, the}' tell us, go back 
in all probability to prehistoric times. Others belong 
to the era of the pyramids and a few to a much later 
period in Eg^'ptian histor}'. Of the man}^ existing 
copies, *' probably not far short of a thousand," some 
contain only a few chapters, while other rolls are over 
a hundred feet in length and about fifteen inches in 
breadth. There is no connection between the chapters, 
either from a logical or chronological point of view, and 
thousands of years passed before the book received any 
ver}' definite form. The oldest chapters are said to be the 
130th and 64th. Of the latter, Xaville, a famous student 



The Egyptia7i Book of the Dead 59 

of these various texts, asserts that it is *' the most im- 
portant chapter of the Book of the Dead. ' * The chapter 
claims to have been written by * ' the finger of the god 
Thoth," '' the manifester of truth and righteousness/* 
It says of itself : ** There is no book like it, man hath 
not spoken it, neither hath ear heard of it." It is a 
resume of the whole Book of the Dead and occurs twice 
on the sarcophagus of Queen Mentuhotep of the eleventh 
dynasty. In another copy the name Septi of the first 
dynasty appears. Twenty-five hundred years before 
Christ, authorities tell us, the text of the chapter *' was 
nearly as doubtful as in later ages." 

The seventeenth chapter is one of the most remark- 
able and it has been preserved from times previous to 
the twelfth dynasty. It contains an account of the 
Egyptian cosmogony as taught at Heliopolis and dates, 
says Davis in his recent work on the Egyptian Book of 
the Dead, **some 2000 years before any probable date 
of Moses." A text of the book of the twenty-sixth 
dynasty, republished by I^epsius in his Totenbiich, con- 
tains 165 chapters. Some recent editions have 1 78 chap- 
ters. Occasionally a chapter is repeated. The 65th 
chapter is a duplicate of the 2d, and the 129th is a repeti- 
tion of the 1 00th . 

The Turin Papyrus of the Book of the Dead closes 
with these words : *' He shall drink out of the stream 
of the celestial river, and shall be resplendent like the 
stars in Heaven." 

The Burton copy of the book adds the following: 
** An adoration made to Osiris, the Dweller of the West, 
Great God, Lord of Abydos, Eternal King, Everlasting 
Lord, Great God in the plains, — I give glory to thee, 
O Osiris, Lord of the Gods, living in truth! Is said by 
thy son Horus. I have come to thee, bringing thee 



6o The Sphere of Religion 

truth. Where are thy attendant gods ? Grant me to 
be with them in thy company. I overthrew thy enemies. 
I have prepared thy food on earth forever.'' 

The religion of these ancient Egyptians long ago 
passed from off the earth, but it is the opinion of schol- 
ars that the religion of the Jews was affected in no small 
degree by its influence. The rite of circumcision 
which the Jews made so much of they acquired 
from the Egyptians, who in turn received it from 
the natives of Africa. Ancient Egyptian mummies 
show that the rite was practised far earlier than the time 
of Abraham. The figure of the cherubim who guarded 
the gates of Paradise and spread their wings over the ark 
was probably derived from that of the Sphinx who, as 
the symbol of wisdom and strength, watched over the 
entrances to temples and tombs. So the Jewish idea of a 
Holy of Holies in their temple was probably of Egyp- 
tian origin, as was the notion of a scapegoat to carry 
away the sins of the people. Although the first two of 
the ten commandments are opposed to some of the 
ideas implied in the Negative Confession, the majority 
of them are explicitly contained in it. But the leading 
doctrines of the Egyptians the Jews seem to have care- 
fully excluded, probably to a large extent out of preju- 
dice against the religion of their oppressors. We find 
no evidence in the Pentateuch that the people were 
taught anything concerning the transmigration of the 
soul, the embalming of the body, or the ornamentation 
of tombs. But what is more surprising we find no 
mention in it of a future life and a judgment to come. 
It is the emphasis put upon this idea that constitutes 
the chief contribution of the Egyptians to the cause 
^i religion in our day. 

c. The Vedas of the Hindus.— The word Veda 



The Vedas of the Hindus 6 1 

comes from the Sanskrit vid (Latin, videre) and means 
knowledge or science. In its broadest signification it 
designates the entire sacred literature of ancient India, 
which consists of more than one hundred volumes ; 
but in the narrower sense of the term as here used it re- 
fers to the three metrical compositions which lie at the 
basis of this literature and determine its form and 
character. 

Expert students of Sanskrit literature, such as Max 
Miiller, Whitney, and Lanman, tell us that these com- 
positions are among the oldest Scriptures that have 
come down to us. The Hindus have always believed, 
and believe to-day, that no human authors produced, 
them, but that they have existed from all eternity, and 
cannot possibly be modified or destroyed. The mean- 
ing of these Scriptures, it is claimed, can be discerned 
only by certain ' ' Rishis ' ' or seers to whom from age 
to age it is miraculously revealed. 

It is universally admitted by modem scholars that 
the original Vedas were very much larger than the 
present collection and were handed down by tradition 
orally from generation to generation long before they 
were put into written form. Remnants of, older Vedas 
not now extant are scattered through various portions 
of the present collection in a manner similar to the 
references to older writings in our own Bible. 

The Vedas are chiefly made up of prayers and hymns 
addressed to the personified forces of nature, and are di- 
vided into three principal parts, — the Rig-Veda, or 
hymns to ])e recited, the Saraa-Veda, or hymns to be 
sung, and the Yagur-Veda, largely a collection of sac- 
rificial formulas and rites. To each of these is attached 
a body of subordinate works called Brahmanas which 
are for the most part explanatory discourses on I lie 



62 The Sphere of Religion 

sacred text by a brahman or priest. The older Brahm- 
anas contain descriptions of the sacrificial ceremonies, 
an account of their origin, and legends illustrating their 
supernatural power. The later Brahmanas are more 
philosophical in their character. They ignore such 
matters as rites and ceremonies, and deal with the mys- 
teries of creation and existence. They are often spoken 
of under the term Upanishads and remain the founda- 
tion of all the higher thought of Brahmanism even in 
our own day. 

Attached to the Brahmanas, just as the Brahmanas 
are attached to the Vedas, are the Sutras. They con- 
,sist mainly of rules to be followed in making sacrifices 
and conducting the affairs of every-day life. When the 
ceremonials had grown to such enormous proportions 
that no person could remember them, systematic treat- 
ises had to be prepared for the celebrants. For the 
ceremonials pertained not only to the details of the 
present life of an Aryan Hindu, but to his prenatal and 
postmortem existence. The word Sutra means a String 
and refers to the fact that these rules were usually writ- 
ten out separately with great care on dried palm-leaves 
tied together with a string. Each Sutra or string ot 
aphorisms generally begins with the words, ''Thus 
have I heard," corresponding to our *' Thus saith the 
I/)rd." 

The oldest of the Vedas and much the most important 
is the Rig- Veda. Its size is nearly that of the Iliad and 
Odyssey of Homer. It consists of a little over looo 
prayers and hymns addressed to the fire-god Agni and 
various other deities, and is divided into ten books. Six 
of the books are called " Family Books " and they form 
the nucleus of the collection. Each contains the 
hymns ascribed to a single family or clan in which they 



The Vedas of the Hindus 63 

originated and by whom they were handed down as 
a sacred inheritance. 

The hymns of book nine are addressed to the deified 
drink Soma, now believed to be the juice of a plant of 
the milkweed family, which was supposed to confer 
upon its devotees supernatural powers. The tenth 
book comprises hymns ascribed to many different au- 
thors whom the scholars of to-day regard as the poet- 
sages of remote times. ''The oldest hymns," says 
Professor Lanman, "may have originated as early as 
1200 or 1500 B. c, but it is not feasible to assign a 
precise date." Some of the hymns are put as late as 
900 or 800 B. c. It is now well ascertained that in- 
stead of having been given at any one time the collec- 
tion grew up gradualh" during many centuries. 

The first of the hymns of the Rig- Veda, as we now 
have it, reads as follows (^Sacred Books of the East^ 
vol. xlvi., p. i): 

" I. I magnify Agni, the Puroliita, the divine ministraut of the 
sacrifice, the Hotri priest, the greatest bestower of 
treasures. 

2. Agni, worthy to be magnified by the ancient Rishis and by 

the present ones — may he conduct the gods hither. 

3. May one obtain through Agni wealth and welfare day by 

day, which may bring glory and high bliss of valiant 
offspring. 

4. Agni, whatever sacrifices and worship thou cncompassest 

on every side, that indeed goes to the gods. 

5. May Agni, the thoughtful Hotri, he who is true and most 

splendidly renowned, may the god come hither with 
the gods. 

6. Whatever good thou wilt do to thy worshipjicr, O Agni, 

that work verily is thine, O Angiras. 



64 The Sphere of Religion 

7. Thee, O Agni, we approach day by day, O god who shinest 

in the darkness ; with our prayer bringing adoration 
to thee. 

8. Who art the king of all worship, the guardian of Rita, the 

shining one, increasing in thy own house. 

9. Thus, O Agni, be easy of access to us, as a father is to his 

son. Stay with us for our happiness." 

The word Brahma means growth or expansion and is 
used in the Vedas to designate the supreme, impersonal, 
inactive, all-pervading soul of the universe, from which 
all things emanate and to which they all return. 
Brahma receives no worship, but can be made an 
object of abstract meditation. By this means only can 
absorption in it be attained. Brahma when dominated 
by activity becomes Brahma, the lord and father of all 
creatures, and together with Vishnu, the Preserver or 
Saviour, and Siva, the Destroyer, constitutes the Hindu 
Trinity. The Vedas also recognize the existence of 
a large number of lesser deities in connection with 
which a vast system of ritualism and theosophic specu- 
lation has grown up. 

According to the Vedic teaching no real self can ex- 
ist apart from the one self-existent supreme self When 
individual spirits are allowed for a time to take on an 
apparent separate existence their sole end and aim 
should be to annihilate the apparent self by reabsorp- 
tion into the one only supreme self. Intimately con- 
nected with this doctrine in the Vedas is the doctrine 
of metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls. 
Every creature is supposed to be born again and again 
into any one of the various forms of existence between 
the one supreme self and the lowest atom of living 
matter before he accomplishes his annihilation as an 
individual by union with the Brahma. The reason as- 



The Vedas of the Hindus 65 

signed for these rebirths is the desire for life, or in- 
dividual existence. Only when this desire is utterly 
eradicated will they cease. 

Associated with the three Vedas already mentioned 
was the Atharva-Veda, called after a semi-mythical 
family of priests. Its contents were popular and su- 
perstitious rather than hieratic, and the work is of a 
later date than the other Vedas. ''It exhibits the 
ordinary Hindu not only in the aspect of a devout and 
virtuous adherent of the gods, and performer of pious 
practices, but also as the natural, semi-civilized man : 
rapacious, demon-plagued, and fear-ridden, hateful, 
lustful, and addicted to sorcery." 

Some of the later Brahmanas connected with the 
Vedas are called " Forest Treatises." They are prob- 
ably so named because of the supposed superior mysti- 
cal sanctity of their contents, and because they were 
to be recited in the solitude of the forest instead of in 
the village. Among the later Sutras were the so-called 
*' House Books " and the " Law Sutras." The former 
treated of matters that concerned the ever>^-day life of 
the family, while the latter dealt with the whole subject 
of religious and secular law. 

The most famous of these Law-Books was called the 
Code of Manu. As we now have it, it consists of 
twelve books, the first treating of the origin of the 
universe and the last of transmigration and final hap- 
piness. Everything that pertains to the duties of a 
Brahman in the different stages of his life is set forth in 
it, — his education and duties as a pupil, his marriage 
and duties as a householder, his means of subsistence, 
his duties as an anchorite and ascetic, the duties of 
rulers, the mutual relations of the castes, penauce and 
expiation. 
5 



66 The Sphere of Religion 

The code is claimed by the Hindus to be the work of 
a divinely inspired lawgiver by the name of Manu, who 
is represented in the Rig- Veda as the ancestor of the 
human race and the first one to offer a sacrifice to the 
gods. In the first chapter of the code he declares him- 
self to have created all this universe. The chapter 
opens as follows {^Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxv., 
pp. I seq>i\ 

'' I. The great sages approached Manu, who was 
seated with a collected mind, and, having duly wor- 
shipped him, spoke as follows : 

2. ' Deign, divine one, to declare to us precisely 
and in due order the sacred laws of each of the (four 
chief) castes and of the intermediate ones. 

3. * For thou, O lyord, alone knowest the import 
(/. e, the rites), and the knowledge of the soul, taught 
in this whole ordinance of the Self-existent, which is 
unknowable and unfathomable.* 

4. He, whose power is measureless, being thus 
asked by the high-minded sages, duly honored them, 
and answered, ' Listen ! 

5. * This universe existed in the shape of Dark- 
ness, unperceived, destitute of distinctive marks, un- 
attainable by reasoning, unknowable, wholly immersed, 
as it were, in deep sleep. 

6. * Then the divine Self-existent, himself indis- 
cernible, but making all this, the great elements and 
all the rest, discernible, appeared with irresistible 
creative power, dispelling the darkness. 

7. * He, who can be perceived by the internal 
organ alone, who is subtile, indiscernible, and eternal, 
who contains all created beings and is inconceivable, 
shone forth of his own will. 

8. * He, desiring to produce beings of many kinds 



The Vedas of the Hindus 67 

from his own body, first with a thought created the 
waters and placed his seed in them. 

9. * That seed became a golden ^'g'g, in brilliancy 
equal to the sun ; in that ^%% he himself was born as 
Brahman, the progenitor of the whole world.' " 

The word Manu is from the Sanskrit viaii, mean- 
ing literally * ' the thinking being. " It is the consensus 
of opinion among scholars that the word does not refer 
to any historical personage, and that the code is simply 
a collection of the ordinances and customs of the coun- 
try as they gradually developed in the course of a long 
period of time. It is also admitted that the code, as 
we now have it, instead of being hoary with antiquity, 
should not be placed farther back than the beginning 
of the Christian era. 

There are several schools of philosophy that have 
arisen among the Hindus to explain and supplement 
the Vedas. The Vedanists hold that there is only one 
being in the universe, namely, Brahma, and that all 
else is Mayar or illusion. The Sankhyists believe in 
two eternal substances, individual Souls and Nature, 
or Brahma; while the Nyayists assume three, — 
Atoms, Souls, and Brahma. The system whose fol- 
lowers are regarded as the highest representatives of 
the teachings of the Vedas is a modification of the 
Sankhya, known as the Yoga system. 

Yoga means '* concentration," and a Yogi is one 
who has so disciplined himself by a systematic course 
of vSelf-castigation that he has brought about a vSepara- 
tion of his soul from matter and effected its absorption 
into the divine soul. In the attaining of this end, eight 
stages are necessary : (i) Self-control. This consists 
in doing no injury to any living thing, telling the 
truth, practising chastity, accepting no gifts. (2) Re- 



68 The Sphere of Religion 

ligious observance. Internal as well as external purity 
must be observed. One must frequently repeat the 
Vedic hymns, must be contented with his lot, and must 
constantly rely upon the Supreme Being. (3) Fixed 
bodily postures. These are of various sorts. They 
cultivate patient endurance and develop the will. (4) 
Regulation of the breath. This had to do with the 
prolongation of the period of exhalation and inhalation. 
It was often carried to a complete suspension of the 
breathing process. (5) Restraint of the senses. This 
means their diversion from the objects that excite 
them. (6) The steadying of the mind ; i. ^., the jfree- 
ing of it from every sensual disturbance. This is done 
by fixing the thoughts exclusively upon some one part 
of the body, as the navel, or the tip of the nose. (7) 
Meditation. By this is meant such a concentration of 
the attention upon the one object of thought, the Su- 
preme Being, as to exclude all other thoughts. (8) 
Profound contemplation. This involves such a com- 
plete concentration of the mind upon the Supreme 
Being as to produce an utter extinction of all thought. 

' ' In such a state a Yogi is insensible to heat and 
cold, to pleasure and pain ; he is the same in prosperity 
and adversity; he enjoys an ecstatic condition.'' He 
finds himself able to know the past and future, to un- 
derstand the sounds of all animals, to tell the thoughts 
of others, to recall his experiences in his former state of 
existence, to see all objects at once in this and other 
planets. 

In particular, a Yogi, by passing through these 
eight stages of discipline, is supposed to acquire eight 
miraculous powers, — to make himself invisible ; infi- 
nitely light or heavy ; extremely small or large ; to 
touch anything, however distant, as the sun or moon. 



The Vedas of the Hindus 69 

with the tips of his fingers ; to have an irresistible will ; 
to obtain absolute dominion over all other beings ; to 
change the course of nature; and to transport himself 
to any place whatsoever at will. 

By the practice of Yoga not only does he put himself 
in possession of these miraculous powers, but he also 
obtains '* redeeming knowledge/' When his concen- 
tration has become so intense that it has overcome all 
the hindrances that arise from his natural disposition 
and it is no longer possible for his thoughts to wander, 
his intellect is freed from all consideration of self and 
turns itself inward. This is the beginning of true 
liberation. Salvation, or final liberation, can rarely 
come, however, until after a succession of births. For 
the results obtained in one birth require a subsequent 
birth in order to reach their maturity. 

At the outset Yoga was not theistic. It was only in 
the course of centuries that the idea grew up that union 
with God, in any sense of that term, was the end to be 
attained by the system. Yoga originally was simply 
the attempt to separate the spirit from matter. There 
are a large number of Upanishads that treat of Yoga, 
but scholars are agreed that they are not among the 
oldest, and many think that they are even more recent 
than the Yoga-sutra itself. 

All the Vedas agree in considering existence in time 
and space an evil. It is a delusion resulting from 
desire and necessitates perpetual suffering and a per- 
petual transmigration through dificrent bodies, until 
desire burns itself out and ceases to be. Knowledge of 
this fact is the only thing that will bring deliverance. 
*' He who ceases to contemplate other things, who 
retires into solitude, annihilates his desires, and sub- 
jects his passions, he understands that Spirit is the one 



70 The Sphere of Religion 

and the Eternal. The wise man annihilates all sensible 
things in spiritual things, and contemplates that one 
Spirit who resembles pure space." All action leads to 
agitation and suffering. Only knowledge, pure con- 
templation, can unite the soul to God and bring rest 
and peace. 

The Vedas teach the great truth of the reality of spirit, 
and this will always remain the fundamental doctrine of 
religion. But in holding that spirit is absolutely un- 
limited and that eternity alone is real, they make per- 
sonality, whether of God or man, impossible and leave 
no room for progress which must take place in time. 
The great ideas of Brahmanism need to be supplemented 
and corrected by the idea that the universe is the pro- 
duct of a power acting according to a rational purpose, 
and that communion with this power comes not by 
absorption and inaction, but by the active obedience of 
the will and by personal development. Thus only will 
the devotees of this religion cease from being the slaves 
of unscrupulous tyrants, as they have been for centuries, 
and rise to the dignity of men. What they most need 
is not more intellectual abilit}^ but more moral power. 

The Brahman ical priests have for many centuries held 
in their control the exclusive knowledge of the rites and 
ceremonies enjoined by the Vedas, and in this way have 
exerted an influence over the daily lives of the people 
unequalled in any other land. The caste system which 
they have instituted has for generations been by far the 
most significant factor in Hindu life. 

The census of 190 1 gave the number of Brahmanical 
Hindus as over 200,000,000. The mass of them, while 
not ignoring the worship of their gods, regard it as the 
highest law of their being to eat correctly, to drink cor- 
rectly, and to marry correctly, that is, in accordance 



The Chinese Classics 71 

with the law of their caste. They believe that in this 
way the teachings of the Vedas are most faithfully 
observed and honored. 

d. The Chinese Classics.— The tible which from 
the sixth century before Christ has had a controlling 
influence over the destinies of the Chinese and still em- 
bodies the faith and practice of their ruling classes is 
made up of nine books, known to us as the Chinese 
Classics. The first five of these books Confucius pro- 
fessed merely to have abridged from older books, and 
the remaining four were composed partly by him and 
partly by his disciples. 

It is now agreed that Confucius did not commit any 
of his own teachings to writing. Yet so carefully did 
his followers preserve his sayings and so fully did they 
depict his life that there is probably no person of an- 
tiquity of whom we have more accurate knowledge. 
He was born on the 19th of June, 551 B.C., atShang-ping 
in the little kingdom of Lu. Various miracles are re- 
lated as occurring in connection with his birth and early 
childhood. His father died when he was three years 
old, but he was carefully brought up by his mother, who 
called him by a pet name meaning ''little hillock" 
because of an unusual elevation on the top of his 
forehead. His real name was Kong, but his disciples 
called him Kong-fu-tsu, or Kong, the Master, which the 
Jesuit missionaries Latinized into Confucius. 

From his early years Confucius showed an extraor- 
dinary love of learning and a great veneration for the 
ancient laws of his country. At seventeen he obtained 
an office under the government which he administered 
with unusual energy and uprightness. At nineteen he 
married, but after four years he gave up his family life 
for the sake of his public duties. When in his twenty- 



72 The Sphere of Religion 

third 3^ear his mother died, and in accordance with a 
law then long antiquated, that children should resign all 
public oflSce on the death of either parent, he gave up 
his ojB&cial position; and in accordance with another an- 
tiquated law buried the remains of his mother with such 
solemnity and splendor that his contemporaries resolved 
henceforth to pay their dead similar ancient honors. 

The authority of Confucius concerning the past soon 
became unquestioned. He pointed out the necessity of 
paying stated homage to the dead, either at the grave 
or in a part of the dwelling consecrated to the purpose. 
Hence * ' the hall of ancestors ' ' and the anniversary 
feasts in honor of the dead in every well-regulated 
Chinese household of our day. Confucius spent three 
years in mourning and solitude, giving himself up ex- 
clusively to study and meditation. Then he began to 
instruct his countrymen in what he considered the 
principles of correct living, being himself the embodi- 
ment of all the virtues he inculcated on others. He 
gave instruction to all who came to him, however small 
the fee, provided he found in them capacity to learn and 
zeal for improvement. 

His fame soon spread abroad and before many years 
he had no less than 3000 followers. They were mostly 
mandarins of middle age, sober and grave, occupy- 
ing oflScial positions of importance and respectability. 
This, in some degree at least, accounts for the fact that 
his teachings were so decidedly ethical. They were 
primarily intended to fit men for honorable and useful 
careers in this life. The political disorders of his time, 
which the emperor was too weak to quell, naturally 
turned his attention to the principles of good govern- 
ment as his chief topic of discourse. 

Confucius travelled much through various parts of 



The Chinese Classics 73 

China and in some of them he was employed as a pub- 
lic reformer. In his fifty-first year he returned to Lu 
and was appointed " governor of the people," but, ow- 
ing to the jealousy and intrigue of neighboring states 
at his success, he soon resigned and betook himself to 
other countries. After thirteen years of fruitless effort 
to find some ruler willing to be guided by his counsels, 
he came back to Lu in extreme poverty and spent his 
remaining years in literary pursuits. His last days 
were greatly saddened by the death of his only son and 
two of his most faithful disciples. He died a disap- 
pointed man at the non-success of his mission, in his 
seventieth year, but immediately, as in the case of 
Buddha, his name began to be treated with marked 
veneration, and to-day he is worshipped by many as a 
god. 

His family still continues to reside in the place where 
their ancestor lived and is the only hereditary aris- 
tocracy in China, the oldest representative of it having 
the title and revenues of a duke. Temples to the honor 
of Confucius exist in every city of the empire, and 
now exceed 1500 in numbers. Twice each year some 
70,000 animals and 27,000 pieces of silk are burned 
upon his altars. Twice each year the Emperor himself 
makes offerings in his honor in the hall of the Imperial 
College at Peking. The eighteenth day of the second 
moon is kept sacred as the anniversary of his death. 

The system of Confucius, as set forth in the nine 
classics, has little to do with what is ordinarily called 
religion, and he distinctly disclaims for himself any 
special revelation. "I teach you nothing," he says, 
*'but what you might learn for yourselves — viz., the 
observation of the three fundamental laws of relation 
between sovereign and subject, father and child, luis- 



74 The Sphere of Religion 

band and wife ; and the five capital virtues — universal 
charity, impartial justice, conformity to ceremonies 
and established usages, rectitude of heart and mind, 
and pure sincerity." 

One of his disciples once asked him about serving 
the spirits of the dead and the master replied : ' ' While 
you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their 
spirits?" and when asked a question about death, he 
answered : '' While you do not know life, how can you 
know about death ? ' ' 

Although Confucius lauds the present world there 
are a number of allusions in his works to an heavenly 
agenc3^ called Shang-te whose outer emblem is Tien or 
the visible firmament. This Shang-te is probably the 
ever-present Law and Order of the universe. In one 
passage he enjoins the people '' to contribute with all 
their power to the worship of Shang-te, of celebrated 
mountains, of great rivers, and of the * shin ' (spirits) 
of the four quarters." In another he says: ** as for 
the genii and spirits, sacrifice to them ; I have nothing 
to tell regarding them whether they exist or not ; but 
their worship is part of an august and awful ceremonial, 
which a wise man will not neglect or despise." 

In the opinion of many competent students of Chi- 
nese history it was this doubting attitude of Confucius 
toward the world of spirits that prevented his disciples 
from giving themselves up to the debasing superstitions 
and magical rites of the Buddhist and Taoist sects that 
still demoralize the masses of the people. 

The first of the so-called ^' Five Canonical Books " of 
the Chinese was originally a cosmological essay, but is 
now regarded as a treatise on ethics. The second is an 
account of the sayings and actions of two emperors 
who lived twenty-three centuries B.C., and of other 



The Chinese Classics 75 

ancients for whom Confucius had the deepest rever- 
ence. It depicts a kind of golden age when evil, pov- 
erty, and ignorance had been blotted out of the empire 
by the virtue and example of its rulers, when * ' the 
upright were advanced to ofl&ce and the crooked set 
aside/' The third is a book of sacred songs or poems, 
three hundred and eleven in number, many of which 
every well-educated Chinaman knows by heart. The 
fourth is called the ' ' Book of Rites ' ' and prescribes the 
ceremonies to be observed in every relation of life. It 
has been for centuries, and is now, the chief cause of 
the artificial and unchangeable habits of the people. 
And the last of the five has the title, the " Spring and 
Autumn Annals. *' In it Confucius gives a brief his- 
tory of the events in Lu from 721 to 480 B.C. It is 
not a work of much merit. 

The first of the so-called '' Four Books " which fol- 
low these five canonical books is the Chinese bible. It 
is known as the ''Great Study," and is devoted to 
showing in what good government consists. It says, 
**The ancients who desired to illustrate illustrious 
virtue throughout the empire first ordered well their 
own states. Wishing to order well their own states, 
they first regulated their families. Wishing to regu- 
late their families, they first cultivated their own 
persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first 
rectified their hearts." The second is entitled "The 
Doctrine of the Mean," and is attributed to the grand- 
son of Confucius. It teaches what '' the due medium " 
is in all conduct. The third book is sometimes called 
the *' Memorabilia of Confucius," and is the chief 
source of our knowledge of his character and teachings. 
Measured by any standard, a high degree of excellence 
must be accorded to them all. 



76 The Sphe^^e of Religion 

Two oft-quoted passages will summarize his life and 
views. ''At fifteen," he says, '' I had m}^ mind bent 
on learning ; at thirty I stood firm ; at forty I had no 
doubts ; at fifty I knew the decrees of heaven ; at sixty 
my ear was an obedient organ ; at seventy I could fol- 
low what my heart desired without transgressing what 
was right." When asked b}^ a disciple, '* Is there one 
W'Ord which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's 
life ? " he replied, ' ' Is not reciprocity such a w^ord ? 
What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to 
others." Though this golden rule happens to be 
negative in its form, it has all the force and intent of a 
positive injunction. 

The fourth book is written by Mencius, by far the 
greatest of the early Confucians, and the main effect of 
it is to lay down the principles of a government that is 
wise and just and good. 

To explain the vast influence that Confucianism, as 
a system of ethics and a religion, has exerted for cen- 
turies, and still exerts, over the Chinese mind, we have 
to observe in the first place that it is wonderfully 
adapted to the prosaic, practical, and conservative ten- 
dencies of the people. In the second place, it assumes 
the inherent goodness of human nature, and holds that 
wisdom and righteousness can be acquired by the strict 
and faithful performance of appointed duties and the 
cultivation of proper feelings and sentiments. And in 
the third place, it extols education as the means of re- 
novating mankind and inaugurating a time of universal 
prosperity and peace. 

Through its influence schools have been diffused 
throughout the length and breadth of the empire, ex- 
tending even to the remote villages. The doctrines of 
Confucius constitute the chief part of the instruction 



Iliad and Theogony of the Greeks 7 7 

given in them, and up to 1906 no one could enter the 
public service or be promoted in it without passing a 
thorough examination on their contents. In Japan 
and Korea the authority of Confucius among the 
educated classes, until the last few years, was almost as 
unquestioned as in his native land. He has been 
** during twenty-three centuries the daily teacher and 
guide of a third of the human race. ' ' 

Confucianism inculcates many of the characteristics 
of a genuine religious life, such as reverence for the 
past, love of knowledge, regard for peace and or- 
der, and filial piety. But what it vitally needs is a 
larger outlook. It needs to supplement regard for the 
past with hope for the future, its stability with the 
idea of progress, its faith in man with faith in a Higher 
Power, its appreciation of time with an equal appreci- 
ation of eternity. 

e. The Iliad and the Theogony of the Greeks. 
— The chief Sacred Scriptures of the ancient Greeks 
were the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, and the Theog- 
ony of Hesiod. For this statement we have the ex- 
plicit assertion of no less an authority than Herodotus 
himself. He says distinctly, "lam of the opinion that 
Hesiod and Homer lived four hundred years before my 
time and not more, and these were they who framed a 
theogony for the Greeks, and gave names to the gods, 
and assigned to them honors and arts, and declared 
their several forms" (ii., 53). 

This is also the view of the latest scholars. Professor 
Seymour of Yale in his commentary upon the Ho- 
meric poems declares, ''To the ancient Greek mind, 
the Iliad and Odyssey formed a sort of Bible, to which 
reference was made as to an ultimate authority.*' He 
would undoubtedly have included in this statement the 



78 The Sphere of Religion 

Theogony of Hesiod, if occasion had called for any 
reference to that work. 

To the student of ancient history it is no accident 
that the revealers of the ways of the gods among the 
Greeks were poets. For poets were looked upon by 
them as equal to prophets, and no such distinction was 
made between them as we are inclined to make in our 
day. Everything in nature and life they instinctively 
regarded from the poetic point of view. To the Greeks, 
as James Freeman Clarke has so well said in his Ten 
Great Religions-, '' all the phenomena of nature, all the 
events of life became a marvellous tissue of divine 
story. They walked the earth surrounded and over- 
shadowed by heavenly attendants and supernatural 
powers. . . . Their gods were not their terror, but 
their delight. Even the great gods of Olympus were 
around them as invisible companions. Fate itself, the 
dark Moira, supreme power, mistress of gods and men, 
was met manfully and not timorously. So strong 
was the human element, the sense of personal dignity 
and freedom, that the Greeks lived in the midst of 
a supernatural world on equal terms.*' 

The question of the origin of the Greek religion was 
a mooted one even among the Greeks themselves, and 
continued to be so until very recent times. Some held 
that it was almost entirely an Egyptian importation, 
while others regarded it as a native product. The 
advances that have been made within the last half-cen- 
tury in comparative philology have, however, settled 
the matter beyond reasonable doubt. Recent scholars 
tell us that over two thousand words in the Greek 
language are found in the Sanskrit, showing conclu- 
sively that the Greek people once lived in Central Asia 
and brought the rudiments of their religion with them 



Iliad and Theogony of the Greeks 79 

when they migrated from that country. Later addi- 
tions were made to it by other colonists from Phoenicia, 
Egypt, and other parts of the East. 

To Homer and Hesiod belongs the honor of making 
the first attempt to put these early traditions into per- 
manent form and bring them down to their own day. 
But who Homer was is regarded by modern scholars 
as an unsolved mystery. ** When and where Homer 
lived/' says a high authority, '' no one knows. Many 
stories about him were invented and told, but all are 
without support," the one about his blindness being the 
most unlikely of all. His knowledge of anatomy and 
of the details of battles, for example, could not have 
been acquired by one deprived of the power of sight. 

Indeed, it is now agreed that the poems attributed to 
Homer by the ancients were not written by any one 
person ; for they do not have the unity we find in such 
works as Vergil's ^neid and Milton's Paradise Lost. 
Some parts of the Iliad are shown by scholars to be 
much more ancient than was formerly supposed, and 
some much more recent. Oftentimes the details of the 
story are not known to the writer, for he is constantly 
appealing to the inspiration of a Muse for his facts. 
That there was a conflict between the ancient Greeks 
and Trojans, and that Troy was destroyed about 1180 
B.C. has been made quite probable by the excavations of 
Dr. Schliemann since 1869, showing that towns of 
wealth and culture like those described in the poem, ex- 
isted in the region of Mycenae and Ilium at that time. 

The Iliad opens with the visit of an old priest of 
Apollo to the camp of the Greeks, offering rich ransom 
for his daughter whom they have captured and given 
as a prize to one of their chieftains. It is the tcnlli 
year of the war to ('oni])cl Paris, the son i^'[ Kin^ Priaui 



8o The Sphere of Religion 

of Ilium, to return Helen, the daughter of the goddess 
Leda and Father Zeus, to her husband, the King of 
Sparta. For from him Paris had stolen her with the 
help of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. As the Greeks 
had brought no supplies with them they lived by 
plunder upon the neighboring towns, slaying the men 
or selling them into slavery and taking the women 
prisoners. The daughter of this priest had been taken 
in this way. Her captor rudely dismisses the suppli- 
cation of her father, and Apollo sends a pestilence upon 
the Greeks in consequence. 

As soon as the cause of the pestilence becomes known 
the daughter is restored in order to win back the divine 
favor. I^ater the Trojans break into the Grecian camp 
and work great slaughter, but finally they are driven 
back and Hector is slain, the noblest son of Priam. 
The Iliad closes with an account of the ransom and 
burial of Hector. The action of the Iliad lasts only 
six weeks, but the characteristics and relationships of 
most of the principal gods and goddesses are vividly 
depicted in the book notwithstanding this fact. 

The Odyssey gives a description of the wanderings 
and hardships of Odysseus or Ulysses after leaving 
Troy on his way home. Owing to the ill will of the 
god Poseidon he is helplessly driven about for the pe- 
riod of ten years from one country to another in various 
parts of the w^orld. At first he comes to the land of the 
lyOtus-eaters, then to the island of the Cyclops, one of 
whom devours six of his comrades. I^ater another race 
of giants destroys most of his ships. Finally he is cast 
upon the island of a sea-nymph who cares for him till 
the goddess Athene persuades Father Zeus to allow his 
return home. After many further trials and sufferings 
he reaches his native shore. By the help of his son, 



Iliad and Theogony of the Greeks 8 1 

whom he had left twenty years before as an infant, he 
slays the insolent suitors of his wife and regains his 
kingdom. 

While there is a universal agreement among scholars 
that these Homeric poems are the oldest works of Greek 
literature that have come down to us, none of them 
hold that they are the oldest poems that the Greeks 
produced. Brief lyrics on various themes such as love 
and war, and short epics celebrating the deeds of the 
gods and the exploits of famous men must have been 
long in circulation among the people before any poet 
thought of composing such extended works as these. 
So far from being the pure creations of the age of 
Homer, they are universally regarded as consisting 
chiefly of a body of myths and legends that had de- 
scended from earlier times. Even the language and 
verse are inheritances from former generations. 

Of the personality of Hesiod, the author of the Theo- 
gony, there seems to be no doubt. He himself tells us 
that he was born in the little village of " Ascra, in 
winter vile, in summer most villainous, and at no time 
glorious." Here it was that he fed his lambs beneath 
divine Helicon. Here, as he says, **the Olympian 
Muses, daughters of aegis-bearing Jove, breathed into 
me a voice divine that T might sing of both the future 
and the past, and they bade me hymn the race of ever- 
living blessed gods." 

Hesiod is essentially a prophet. The message he 
delivers he declares is not from himself. He did not 
discover by his own researches the truths he proclaims. 
He thinks of himself as simply the moutlipicce of the 
Muses. As another has expressed it, '' Personal opin- 
ion and feeling may tinge his utterance, but they do 
not determine its general complexion." He is in his 



82 The Sphere of Religion 

own opinion one whom the gods have empowered to 
speak for them and to make known their thoughts con- 
cerning man. The legends and myths he incorporates 
in his story were regarded by him and his age as relics 
of sacred history. Scholars in our day regard him as 
doing little more than to record, and in some degree to 
harmonize, tales more or less generally current. The 
many stories of gross cannibalism and outrageous im- 
morality among the gods that he narrates must have 
come down to his time from utterly savage forefathers. 

Hesiod's work w^as regarded by the ancient Greeks as 
their Book of Genesis. For he claims to give in it by 
divine inspiration a history of the successive genera- 
tions of the immortal gods. In the beginning, he says, 
Chaos alone was. Then came broad-bosomed Earth or 
Gaia, and Tartarus, a dark and gloomy region beneath 
the earth. Afterwards Eros, or lyove, appeared. Out 
of Chaos sprang Erebus and black Night, and from 
them came forth Ether and Day. Earth brought forth 
the starry Heaven or Uranos, then vast mountains, 
" lovely haunts of deities,'' and afterwards Pontus, or 
the barren Sea. Thus it was that the first generation 
of gods came into being. 

Hesiod is here evidently describing the activity of 
the mighty primeval forces of nature, giving the matter 
its appropriate poetical dress. We to-day would call 
the lyove of which he speaks the power of attraction 
bringing together otherwise discordant elements into 
order and harmony. 

The second generation was the period of the Titans, 
gigantic semi-personal powers. By the intermarriage 
of Earth and Heaven they were produced, twelve in 
number, six males, and six females. But Heaven 
feared his own children and shut them up in Tartarus. 



Iliad and Theogony of the Greeks 83 

Earth, however, came to their aid and let them out. 
They overthrew their father and placed Chronos, or 
Time, upon the throne. The children of Time headed 
by Zeus rose up against him and the Titans were again 
imprisoned in Tartarus, watched over by the Cyclops 
and the hundred-handed Giants. 

Hesiod gives a vivid account of this battle with the 
Titans. After describing how Zeus by feasting his 
brothers and sisters upon *' nectar and delightful am- 
brosia " had induced them to join in it, he continues in 
part as follows: ''They then were pitted against the 
Titans in deadly combat, holding huge rocks in their 
sturdy hands. But the Titans on the other side made 
strong their squadrons with alacrity, and both parties 
were showing work of hand and force at the same time, 
and the boundless sea re-echoed terribly, and earth 
resounded loudly, and broad heaven groaned, being 
shaken, and vast Olympus was convulsed from its base 
under the violence of the immortals. . . . Nor longer, 
in truth, did Jove restrain his fury, but then forthwith 
his heart was filled with fierceness, and he began also 
to exhibit all his force ; then, I wot, from heaven and 
from Olympus together he went forth lightning con- 
tinually ; and 'the bolts close together with thunder 
and lightning flew duly from his sturdy hand, whirl- 
ing a sacred flash, in frequent succession, wiiile all 
around life-giving Earth was crashing in conflagration, 
and the immense forests on all sides crackled loudly 
with fire. All land was boiling, and Ocean's streams 
and the barren sea. Hot vapor was circling the earth- 
born Titans, and the incessant blaze reached the 
atmosphere of heaven, whilst flashing radiance of 
thunderbolt and lightning was bereaving their eyes 
of sight " (Banks's translation). 



84 The SpJurc of Religion 

The result of this mighty conflict was that the Titan 
gods were at last conquered and banished to a dreary- 
place " under murky darkness " '' as far beneath under 
earth as heaven is from the earth.'' *' From it they 
will never escape, for Xeptune has placed above them 
brazen gates and a wall goes round them on both 
sides." 

The inhabitants of Olympus constituted the third 
generation. By this time the gods had reached the 
stage of development in which they ceased to be ab- 
stract ideas or the powers of nature, and had become 
genuine personalities, \\-ith distinctly personal quali- 
ties, a personal history-, and a personal life. Every 
Greek was taught to believe that a supreme council of 
twelve national gods, together with a vast retinue 
of lesser gods and goddesses, dwelt upon the glistening 
snow-capped heights of Mount Olympus around its 
highest peak and ruled the universe. Five of these 
Oh-mpian gods were children of Chronos or Time, 
namely, Zeus, Poseidon, Here, Hestia, and Demeter. 
Six were children of Zeus, — Apollo and Artemis, He- 
phaestos and Ares, Hermes and Athene. The twelfth 
was Aphrodite, the goddess of Beauty, who sur\4ved 
from the second generation. For Beaut\- in the opinion 
of the Greeks was much older than Power. 

The highest and mightiest and wisest of all the 
Olympians was Zeus, whom the Romans called at a 
later time Zeus-Pater, or Jupiter. His father had in- 
tended to swallow him as he had swallowed all his 
other children as soon as the}' were bom, but his 
mother substituted a stone for the child. Then she 
secreth' conve3'ed him to a cave on Mt. Ida in Crete, 
where he was brought up by a nymph. He rapidly 
became so misrht^' in strensrth that at the end of a vear 



Ihaa and Theogony of the Greeks 85 

he attacked his father and gave him an emetic that 
caused him to vomit forth his elder brothers and sisters. 
By their aid he soon deposed his father and took control 
of the empire of the universe. 

The realm of the heavens he reserved to himself, 
while the rule of the sea he gave to his brother 
Poseidon, and that of lower world to Hades. Being 
the father of many men as well as gods, Zeus watched 
over all human actions, but especially those of the 
family and the state. He sat enthroned in ether on 
high mountains, where he gathered together the clouds 
and sent forth the storm and the rain. The eagle and 
the thunderbolt were the messengers of his power. 

Second in command among the inhabitants of Olym- 
pus was Poseidon, afterwards called by the Romans 
Neptune. He surrounded the earth and ruled the sea, 
which to the Greeks had an importance that we can 
hardly overestimate. He agitated or quieted the 
waves at his will and was the cause of all earthquakes, 
for the Greeks thought that they originated in the sea. 
The waves were his horses, and hence he was regarded 
as the creator of all horses. With his trident he smote 
the rocks and caused water to gush forth from them in 
abundance. His temper was as variable and stormy 
as the surface of the sea. 

Next came Apollo, the god of light and hence of the 
sun. To him was due the preservation and increase of 
vegetable, animal, and human life. Physical health, 
manly vigor, and masculine beauty were his gifts. 
He was the god of athletics, of the chase, and of war, 
as well as the healer of disease. His anger brought 
on disease and death. He was the god not nurely of 
physical light, l)iit also of mental. Hence all insight 
into the future, all prophecy sprang from him He 



86 The Sphere of Religion 

was the fountain-head of poetical inspiration, music, 
and song, and, therefore, the leader of the Muses. The 
island of Delos was his birthplace, and his parents 
were Zeus and Leto. 

Fourth in the list was Hephaestos, whom the Romans 
later called Vulcan. He was the author of fire and the 
smith of the gods. He had a huge frame and was strong 
and powerful as to the upper part of his bod}-, but his 
legs were so weak and puny that he could hardly hobble 
along with a staff. He did not look like a god, but the 
character of his handiwork showed forth his divinity, 
for it far surpassed anything that any man could execute. 

According to Homer he was the son of Zeus and Here, 
and his lameness was due to the fact that one time when 
his parents were having a violent quarrel he spoke up 
in favor of his mother. Whereupon his father seized him 
by the feet and flung him out of heaven head foremost, 
twisting the bones of his legs out of joint in the opera- 
tion. According to Hesiod he was the son of Here 
alone, who produced him out of envy without a father, 
because Zeus had produced Athene without her aid. 
But w^hen his mother found that he was lame she threw 
him out of heaven hoping that thus he might escape 
the gaze of the gods. He was cared for by two nymphs 
for nine years in their home in the depths of the sea, 
where he wTought many extraordinary w^orks. 

Volcanoes were his workshops. In them metals were 
forged into all conceivable shapes. As the soil of vol- 
canoes was found to be the best for maturing excellent 
wines, he was appointed to the office of cup-bearer to the 
gods. Homer tells us in the Iliad that he was constantly 
ridiculed at their feasts for his awkwardness (due to his 
limping gait) as he went around from one couch to an- 
other handing each the cup. *' And then,'* he says, 



Iliad and Theogony of the Greeks 87 

*' inextinguishable laughter arose among the immortal 
gods when they saw Vulcan bustling through the 
mansion." 

After Hephaestos comes Ares, the god of war, whom 
the Romans identified with their Mars. He was the son 
of Zeus and Here and the favorite of Aphrodite, who 
bore him several children. Battles and slaughter were 
his delight purely for their own sake. Nothing pleased 
him so much as to witness the wholesale destruction of 
men. Having no other purpose to accomplish he 
adhered first to one side in a battle and then to the other. 
In order to make the carnage as terrible as possible he 
took with him into battle besides other companions his 
sister Strife and his sons Horror and Fear, that they 
might add to the slaughter. Sometimes he himself was 
the sufferer. On one occasion when he was wounded by 
Diomede, Homer says of him that in his fall '* he roared 
like nine or ten thousand warriors together." 

The next in importance is Hermes (the Latin Mer- 
cury), the swift and trusted messenger and herald of 
the gods. He is the go-between in all their intrigues, 
and being the god of all intercourse, he becomes the 
god of all traders, and hence, also, of thieves and liars. 
According to the so-called Homeric Hymn to Hermes, 
immediately after his birth in a cave on Mount Cyllene 
in Arcadia he went forth from his cradle and stole a 
large herd of cattle belonging to his brother, Apollo, 
pulling them backwards into his cave by their tails. 
When Apollo caught him and dragged him before their 
father Zeus he vStoutly denied the theft, but he was 
speedily convicted and had to agree to give the cattle 
up. But before he had done so he showed Ajx)llo a 
lyre that he had made out of an old tt)rtoise shell that 
he had discovered, in which only the dried sinews re- 



88 The Sphere of Religion 

mained. Apollo was so taken with the trinket that he 
let Hermes keep the cattle in exchange for it. 

He invented the flute and sold it to Apollo for the 
caduceus, or herald's staff and prophetic powers. With 
this wand he could quickly make the most intractible 
obedient to his will. He was consequently the patron 
of orators and the god of chance. According to some 
he was the god of weights and measures and all science. 
He was worshipped all over Greece and was generally 
represented with winged hat and feet. 

Here, later called Juno, was, according to Hesiod, 
among the elder brothers and sisters that Zeus caused 
his father Chronos to vomit forth by giving him an 
emetic. After her rescue she immediately became the 
wife of Zeus and the queen of heaven. She was thus a 
very ancient and venerable goddess. Homer frequently 
speaksof her as " the venerable ox-eyed Here," though 
he represents her as obstinate and quarrelsome. Her 
temper was a constant source of discord between herself 
and her lord, although she greatly feared him. At one 
time Zeus not only scolded and beat her as was his wont, 
but actually tied her hands together and hung her up 
in the clouds. 

Her jealousy was proverbial. She bitterly resented 
the innumerable amours of her husband and often 
vented her wrath upon the women involved in them 
and their offspring. She intensely disliked Hercules 
and sent the Sphinx to distress the Thebans because 
he was born in their country. The Trojans she bitterly 
hated because Paris did not award her the golden ap- 
ple that had inscribed on it, *' To the most beautiful.'' 
Being the only wedded goddess in Greek mythology 
she naturally presided over marriage. If the rites of 
her own marriage were followed, it became thereby 



Iliad and Theogony of the Greeks 89 

especially sacred. She was universally regarded as 
the noblest of the Olympian dames. 

Next came Athene, or Pallas- Athene, known to the 
Romans as Minerva, who was commonly supposed to 
have sprung full-armored from the head of Zeus by 
his own power. Other versions state that Zeus swal- 
lowed her mother before she was bom and that Hephaes- 
tos to relieve his pains split his head open with an 
axe and let her out. She was the favorite daughter of 
Zeus and little inferior to him in power, often wielding 
his aegis in his stead. Being a warlike goddess she 
was much worshipped in the citadels of fortified towns. 
Sacred images of her, called Palladia, were said at 
times to fall from heaven and were preserv^ed with the 
utmost care, for the possession of one of them in a 
city made it impregnable. Homer tells us that the 
Palladium of Troy was the gift of Zeus to the founder 
of Ilium, and that when Ulysses and Diomede stole it, 
victory went to the Greeks. 

She was not merely the source of heroic valor, but 
chiefly of military wisdom and careful strategy. Hence 
she was regarded as the patron of all learning from the 
humblest arts to the most profound philosophy. Sacred 
to her were the serpent, the owl, and the olive which 
she gave to her favorite city, Athens, so named in her 
honor. There she presided over the courts and de- 
voted herself assiduously to the preser\^ation of the lib- 
erties and well-being of its citizens. Together with 
Apollo and Zeus she formed the supreme triad of the 
religion of the ancient Greeks. Power came from 
Zeus, wisdom from Athene, and the mission of Apollo 
was to reveal to mortals the results of their hamio- 
nious union. The worship of Athene was universal 
throughout the whole of Greece. 



go The Sphere of Religion 

Ninth in the list of these Olympian deities was 
Artemis (later called Diana), the twin sister of Apollo 
and the sharer of his attributes of destruction and heal- 
ing. As a destroying goddess she was thought of as a 
full-grown virgin armed with bow and arrows with 
which she often took vengeance upon her enemies. In 
her capacity as a preserving deity, she watched over 
the sick and helped those in distress. She was the pa- 
troness of chastity and her ministers were pledged to 
chastity by the strictest vows. Just as her brother 
presided over the sun and was often called Phoebus, so 
she was the moon-god and frequently went by the 
name of Phoebe. Woods and lakes were her favorite 
haunts and she often lead in chase and war. In later 
years her temple at Ephesus was one of the seven 
wonders of the world. 

Aphrodite (later Venus) comes next, the goddess of 
sensual love. She was not an original creation of the 
Greeks but was imported from Phoenicia where under 
the name of Astarte she had many worshippers. Hesiod 
asserts that she first appeared in the foam of the sea on 
the shores of ^'wave-dashed Cyprus," and that when 
she landed on the island, attended by nymphs and tri- 
tons, flowers sprang up under her feet and all nature 
rejoiced. Homer represents her as the daughter of 
Zeus and Dione and as much at ease in the Olympian 
circle. 

Though the reputed wife of Hephaestos, accounts of 
her amours with other gods and with mortals abounded 
among the legends of the Greeks. She generally fig- 
ured as the inspirer of unworthy passion and the enemy 
of chastity. Courtesans held her in high repute and 
sacred prostitution was practised in many of her tem- 
ples. Still there were some places where she was 



Iliad and Theogony of the Greeks g i 

worshipped as the goddess of married and chaste 
love. 

Hestia (the Roman Vesta), the eleventh of the 
blessed Olympians, was the first-born daughter of 
Chronos and, as the fire-goddess, she presided over the 
family hearth. The deeds of Aphrodite she utterly 
abhorred, and, when wooed by Apollo and Poseidon, 
swore by the head of Zeus always to be a virgin. A 
libation was poured out to her on the hearthstone at 
the beginning of a feast and even of an ordinary meal. 
Scarcely any private or public ceremony was begun 
without first making her an offering. She united the 
family together and was the centre of the family life. 
She was honored in the temples of all the gods and at 
every fireside. The sacred flame to Hestia was to be 
kept burning in every community and carried wherever 
a colony went to found a new home. 

The last of the twelve Olympian immortals was De- 
meter, later known as Ceres, literally Mother Earth. 
She was a sister of Zeus and by him she became the 
mother of Persephone, whom Hades caught while she 
was gathering flowers in a meadow and carried off to 
the lower world. Demeter long sought for her daugh- 
ter in vain until the all-seeing Helios told her of her fate. 
In her grief she hid herself and the earth ceased to yield 
her fruit. Finally Zeus sent Hermes to compel Hades 
to give up his wife to her mother. But owing to the 
fact that she had been persuaded by Hades to eat a 
pomegranate she was not free to leave her husband. A 
compromise was affected by which she should spend two 
thirds of the year with her mother and one third with 
her husl)aiKl. 

Demeter in her wanderings had been kindly enter- 
tained at Eleusis and, in return, had Messed the spot. 



92 The Sphere of Religion 

There the Eleusinian Mysteries were celebrated in her 
honor. This incident in the life of Demeter is told at 
length in the sacred Homeric Hymn to Demeter where 
she is often called the frnitbringer, the goddess of the 
spring season. She presided over the seed time and 
harvest and was, therefore, the goddess of settled insti- 
tutions and laws. 

Besides the twelve immortal inhabitants of Olympus 
enumerated above, the Greeks worshipped an indefi- 
nite number of scarcely lesser deities ; every river and 
mountain, every forest and dell, every sight and sound, 
indeed, every thought and act had its god. 

The bond of connection between gods and men was 
the Greek idea of heroes. They were the offspring of 
gods and beautiful earth-born women. Thus the sons 
of the gods became the founders of races and the patrons 
of the professions and the arts. The Greeks never had 
the dark and terrible notion of two rival principles, a 
good and a bad, contending for the mastery of the uni- 
verse. They humanized everything, even their gods 
who freely allied themselves with mortals, and no me- 
diator stood between them. Every man, woman, and 
child was at liberty to worship, or sacrifice, or pray 
whenever and wherever, and as often as, the heart de- 
sired. Hence the Greek religion was ** dogmatically 
as well as practically one of the brightest and most joy- 
ous, no less than the mildest and most tolerant, of 
ancient creeds. ' ' 

Still it must be admitted that the gods of the Greeks 
had few if any of the attributes of real divinity. They 
were made in the image of men and had all the passions 
and vices of men. Heraclitus well expressed the mat- 
ter from the point of view of the Greeks when he said : 
' " Men are mortal gods and the gods are immortal men. ' ' 



Iliad and Theog07iy of the Greeks 93 

For the gods had no higher aim than to have a good 
time. Their usual occupation according to Homer was 
to make love, to fight, and to feast. In one of their 
fights represented in the twenty-first book of the Iliad, 
Homer says that Athene seized a stone and struck Ares 
on the neck with it, and that when he fell he covered 
seven acres and defiled his back with dust. In the 
same fight Here held both of the hands of Artemis in 
one of hers and beat her over the head with her own bow. 
But the occasions were rare when they did not, as Ho- 
mer says, *' feast all day till sundown" and then "retire 
to repose, each one to his own house, which renowned 
Vulcan, lame in both legs, had built." Whenever 
they took part in the affairs of men it was usually to 
gratify some whim or passion. They had little or no 
moral purpOvSe and did not by precept or example un- 
dertake to guide the consciences of men. No wonder 
that Plato was shocked at their doings as depicted by 
Hesiod and Homer, and would not allow the wTitings 
of these poets a place in his ideal state. 

Yet in spite of all these defects it must be granted that 
the religion of the Greeks has furnished to the world 
some of the most important ideas of a genuine religious 
life. It represented the gods as imminent, ever-present 
powers, and not mere outside forces having nothing to 
do with the ongoings of the universe, and thus it set 
forth the great truth that all nature is alive with the 
divine. It taught that man could acquaint himself 
with the gods and co-operate with them as a friend and 
companion. Nothing, therefore, that concerned the 
gods was foreign to him. It emphasi/.ed the fact that 
man's chief mission is to develop himself and grow 
up into likeness to the gods. Because of these ideas it 
came about that " nowhere on the earth, before or since, 



94 The Sphere of Religion 

has the human being been educated into such a wonder- 
ful perfection, such an entire and total unfolding of 
itself, as in Greece." These ideas remain to-day the 
fundamental teachings of a truly progressive religious 
life. 

f. The Avesta of Zoroaster.— The bible of the 
ancient Persians is called the Avesta, or the Zend- 
Avesta. Avesta probably means the text or the law, 
and Zend, commentary or explanation. The following 
facts concerning the Avesta and its history are chiefly 
taken from the recently published investigations of the 
subject by Prof. A. V. Williams Jackson, of Columbia. 

The discovery and first deciphering of the Avesta 
are due to the efforts of a young French scholar by the 
name of Anquetil-Duperron. In 1723 a copy of a 
small portion of the Avesta was secured from the Parsis 
in Surat, and deposited as a curiosity in the Bodleian 
library at Oxford. No one, however, was able to read 
the text. Anquetil happened to see in Paris some 
tracings made from the Oxford manuscript, and im- 
mediately conceived the idea of going to India and 
obtaining from the priests themselves a knowledge of 
their sacred books. In 1754 he undertook the journey, 
and after seven years spent in overcoming almost in- 
surmountable obstacles, he succeeded in winning the 
confidence of a few of them who taught him the lan- 
guage of the Avesta and initiated him into some of their 
rites and ceremonies. 

The translation of the Avesta published by Anquetil 
was at one time thought to be a forgery, but later it 
was conclusively shown to be substantially correct. It 
made known to European scholars for the first time 
what is acknowledged to be one of the most ancient 
and important of all the bibles of the Eastern world. 



The A vesta of Zoroaster 95 

The authorship of the Avesta is unanimously as- 
cribed by both classical and Persian writers to Zoro- 
aster, whose date was formerly often spoken of as 6000 
B.C. This was due to a misinterpretation of the 
Persian chronology, which makes a difference between 
the existence of the spiritual essence of Zoroaster, 
which his disciples claimed began at that date, and 
the bodily existence. Scholars are now agreed that 
his physical birth occurred about 660 B.C., in the 
northern part of Persia, though his religious activity 
was chiefly in the eastern part. Tradition has sur- 
rounded his childhood and youth with numerous 
miracles, but in reality little is known of him till his 
thirtieth year. Then he appeared, claiming to have 
received direct from God a new revelation. He at 
once began to oppose the superstitious beliefs of his 
day and to urge the adoption of the new doctrines. 

Between his thirtieth and fortieth year seven visions 
of heavenly and divine truth are said to have come to 
him. After the vivsions tradition asserts that he was 
led by the devil into the wilderness to be tempted, from 
which trial of his faith he came off entirely the victor. 
His first convert was his cousin, but he did not gain 
many followers until he converted the Persian King 
Vishtaspa and his court. Then his doctrines speedily 
extended over all Iran. After a life of great activity 
and usefulness, he was slain in battle during an 
invasion of his country in his seventy-eighth year. 

According to our best scholars it is not probable 
that Zoroaster wrote anything. The revelations that 
were claimed to have been given to him by God word 
for word in the form of conversations were, in all like- 
lihood, orally preserved by his disciples and handed 
down ])>• them to posterity, ju.st as were the Vedas, the 



9 6 The Sphere of Religion 

Talmud, the Koran, and the sayings of Jesus. The 
word Zoroaster, or Zarathustra, as applied to the 
authorship of the Avesta, is now regarded as indicating 
a school of high priests of which Zoroaster was the 
founder rather than the name of any individual. In 
the opinion of Professor Jackson some portions of the 
book probably date back a thousand years or more 
before Christ. Manj^ parts are several centuries, later, 
while others are as recent as the beginning of the 
Christian era. 

The Avesta originally was many times more exten- 
sive than at present. Pliny speaks of 2,000,000 verses 
composed by Zoroaster, and Arabic authorities affirm 
that it was inscribed in letters of gold on 12,000 cow- 
hides and deposited in the palace library at Persepolis, 
which was destroyed by the Greeks under Alexander 
the Great. Making all allowance for Oriental exag- 
geration, the extent of the original Avesta must have 
been very great. 

From the time of the Macedonian conquest to the 
accession of the Sassanian kings, that is, for about five 
himdred years, the religion of ancient Persia, the re- 
ligion of Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes, of the Magi of 
the New Testament who came to worship Jesus at 
Bethlehem, underwent a rapid decline. Many of the 
documents containing its doctrines were neglected and 
lost. But when the Sassanians came to the throne 
they did everything in their power to revive the ancient 
faith. They collected all the extant fragments of the 
Zoroastrian gospel into the collection we now possess, 
which equals in extent about one tenth of our Bible. 

Like our Bible it is a collection of books. The first 
collection is called the Yasna and is by far the most 
important. The whole of it now comprises seventy-two 



The A vest a of Zoroaster 97 

chapters. Probably it is so arranged in order to repre- 
sent twelve times the six ' * seasons ' ' the Persian god 
was said to be occupied in creating the world. The 
Yasna consists chiefly of prayers to be recited at such 
sacrificial rites as the consecration of the holy water ; 
the preparation of the sacred juice called Homa, closely 
resembling the Vedic Soma and serving a similar 
purpose ; the offering of the holy cakes which w^ere 
partaken of only by the priests, as in the Catholic 
communion ser\nce. 

In the midst of these prayers are inserted the five 
Gathas or psalms of Zoroaster which take the place, in 
this form of religion, of the Sermon on the Mount. 
Most scholars now maintain that they are the onl}- por- 
tions of the sacred Persian scriptures that emanated 
directly from Zoroaster himself. These songs or dis- 
courses resemble in metre the Vedic hymns. They be- 
gin with the heading: "The Revealed Thought, the 
Revealed Word, the Revealed Deed of Zarathustra the 
Holy; the archangels first sang the Gathas." Some 
extracts from the Gathas run as follows : 

**I desire by my prayer with uplifted bauds tbis joy, — tbe 
works of tbe Holy Spirit, Mazda, ... a disposition to perform 
good actions, . . . and pure gifts for botb worlds, tbe bodily 
and spiritual." 

** I keep forever purity and good-niindedness. Teacb tbou 
me Abura-Mazda, out of tbyself ; from bcaven, by tby moutb, 
wbereby tbe world first arose.'* 

" I praise Abura-Mazda, wbo has created tbe cattle, created 
tlie water and good trees, tbe splendor of ligbt, tbe earth and 
all good. We praise tbe Fravasbis of tbe pure men and wo- 
men, — wbatever is fairest, purest, immortal." 

*'\Ve bonor tbe good si)irit, tbe good kingdom, tbe good 
law, - all tbat is good." 

" In tbe beginning, tbe two beavenly Onrs sjH)ke the Good 
7 



g8 The Sphere of Religion 

to the Evil — thus : * Our souls, doctrines, words, works, do not 
unite together.* '* 

By the study of these psalms we find that Zoroaster 
taught that there are two principles in this world in 
constant conflict with each other, the principle of good 
and light and life, and the principle of sin, dark- 
ness, and death. Ormazd, or Ahura-Mazda as he is 
sometimes called, is the omniscient and omnipotent em- 
bodiment of the former, and Ahriman of the latter. 
They are primeval and co-eval, but not co-eternal 
powers. Nature is now rent asunder by the conflict of 
these two principles, but man as a free agent will 
eventually overthrow and annihilate all evil. The 
time will come when the good kingdom will be estab- 
lished. Ormazd and his good angels will triumph ; 
Ahriman with his legion of devils will be destroyed. 

Zoroaster exhorts every man to abjure polytheism 
and to have no other god than Ormazd, to eschew all 
forms of evil and cleave to the good, to think lightly 
of the allurements of the present world, and fix his 
thoughts upon the joys of the faithful in the life that 
is to come. We have here a very close approach to 
the Jehovah and Satan of the Old Testament and the 
kingdom of righteousness of the New. 

A large portion of the other parts of the Yasna was 
probably composed by early disciples of Zoroaster and 
consists chiefly of prayers in prose addressed to Ahura- 
Mazda, the angels, the fire, the earth, the water, 
and other spiritual beings presiding over the different 
parts of the good creation. There is also a chapter 
containing a formula used in initiating converts into 
the new religion . 

The second part of the Avesta is a collection of minor 



The A vesta of Zoroaster gg 

litanies, invocations, etc., addressed to a variety of 
divinities and heads of the faith. The third part is 
made up of hymns of praise of certain individual angels 
or mythical heroes and is probably the work of many 
Median bards. Then follows a section of what may be 
called Minor Texts forming a sort of manual for morn- 
ing devotion. The fifth part corresponds to our Pen- 
tateuch and is the code of reUgious, civil, and criminal 
laws of the ancient Iranians. It is evidently the work 
of many hands and many centuries. The pursuit of 
agriculture is especially enjoined and the care of useful 
animals. Much is made of the duty of keeping the 
water pure and of sanitation in general. For bodily 
purity is considered as of equal value with moral purity. 
The sixth and last part is a general appendix. 

The power of Zoroastrianism as a national religion 
was hopelessly overthrown by the Mohammedan inva- 
sion of 641 A.D. Those who did not adopt the creed 
of their conquerors either fled to the mountains, where 
they remain to-day a feeble remnant of about seven or 
eight thousand, or migrated to India, where they now 
have a flourishing colony in the region of Bombay. 
There they are called Parsis and number about ninety 
thousand. They strenuously protest against being 
called fire-worshippers and are noted for their upright- 
ness, morality, and benevolence. In business they have 
shown remarkable ability and a number of them are 
among the weathiest merchants of Bombay. 

The religion of the Avesta has much in common 
with that of the Vedas, and both are probably derived 
from a common Aryan source. Many of the powers, 
such as Indra, Sura, Mithra, and the like, have the 
same name in both systems. Both regard fire as divine 
and pay reverence to the same intoxicating drink, 

LOfC. 



loo TIic Sphere of Religion 

called Soma in Sanskrit, and Homa in the Avesta. 
But in the course of their development they came to 
be almost mutually exclusive. The gods of the Vedas 
appear in the Avesta as evil spirits. The Hindu 
utterly rejects the dualism of the Persian, and the dis- 
ciple of Zoroaster is shocked at the slight regard for 
morality manifested in the system of the Hindu. 

Both Judaism and Christianit}' have been immensely 
aflFected by Zoroastrian thought. Their doctrine of 
angels and devils, and the idea that good and evil are 
equal and pernlanent adversaries in this vv'orld so often 
maintained b}' their adherents, are probably derived 
from this source. " Such poems as Milton's Paradise 
Lost, and Goethe's Fausf/' says James Freeman Clarke 
(7>v Gn-af Religions, vol. i., p. 204) "could perhaps 
never have appeared in Christendom, had it not been 
for the influence of the system of Zoroaster on Jewish, 
and, through Jewish, on Christian thought." But 
apart from this, the Persian religion has undoubtedly 
contributed more than any other so-called heathen re- 
ligion to acquaint the world with the great thought 
that the kingdom of God is a kingdom of righteous- 
ness, and that it is the duty of ever}' man to work for 
its establishment here and now. 

g. Buddha's Tripitaka. — About five hundred 
years before the Christian era a powerful religious sect 
arose in India known as the Buddhists, and their bible 
came to be called the Tripitaka, which literalh' means 
the three baskets. It is made up of three collections. 
The first consists of aphorisms ; the second of rites and 
ceremonies ; and the third of philosophical speculations. 
Although Buddha, the founder of the sect, preached for 
more than forty years, he wrote nothing himself. His 
chief followers, however, immediately after his death 



Buddha s Tripitaka loi 

reduced his teachings to writing, and the first part of 
the Tripitaka consists, in the main, of his discourses 
handed down by word of mouth. 

The Sanskrit word Buddha, or Booddha, means en- 
lightened. It is applied to any man who, by numerous 
good w^orks, continued through countless forms of exis- 
tence, has become released from the bonds of existence 
and who, before he enters into Nirvana, proclaims to 
others the only true way for bringing about the re- 
demption of man. 

There have been innumerable Buddhas, but the 
Buddha of history, it is now admitted, was the son of a 
wealthy Indian chieftain, who had his capital at Ka- 
pilavastu near the foot of the Himalayas. His birth 
occurred about 550 B.C., and one of his early names 
was Gautama. By this he was generally known until 
he became the Enlightened One and set out on his new 
mission. Then he was called Gautama Buddha, just 
as Jesus came to be called Jesus Christ. Brought up in 
the seclusion and luxury of an Oriental court, he saw no 
signs of human misery till his twenty-ninth year. Then , 
as he went among the people, he was so impressed by 
the universal wretchedness that existed in the world, 
regardless of sex, caste, or condition, that he resolved 
to devote his life to finding some way of relief from it. 
He at once abandoned his luxurious home, his wife, 
and infant son, and, assuming the garb of a mendicant, 
betook himself to the life of a Brahmanical recluse. 
But, in spite of all his efforts to discover a way of sal- 
vation for him.self and others in this manner, no light 
came to him. 

Finally he phingcd into the forest and for six years 
gave himself up to extreme austerities and self-mortifi- 
cation. Still he did not find the deliverance and peace 



I02 The Sphere of Religion 

that he sought. At last in sheer despair he flung him- 
self down under a bo-tree and there, after forty days 
and nights of fixed contemplation, enlightenment came 
to him. He had the beatific vision and experienced 
the inward rest of Nirvana. 

The bible of the Buddhists is founded on what 
Buddha called the Four Sublime Verities. The first 
asserts that suffering exists wherever sentient life is 
found. The second teaches that the cause of vSuffering 
is desire, or a craving for life and pleasure. The third 
afl&rms that the only way to be delivered from suffering 
is by the extinction or "blowing out " of desire. The 
fourth maintains that the only way to cause suffering 
to cease and thus reach Nirvana is to follow the Path 
of Buddha, or the Noble Eightfold Path. This path 
consists of right views (as to the nature and cause of 
suffering); right judgments; right words; right ac- 
tions; right practice (in getting a livelihood); right 
obedience (to the law); right memory (of the law); 
and right meditation. 

The third part of the Tripitaka attempts to give an 
explanation of the system. The immediate cause of 
suffering, it maintains, is birth. For if we were not 
bom, we should not be exposed to death or any of the 
ills of life. All the actions and affections of a being at 
any one stage of his migrations leave their impressions 
and stains upon him, and determine the peculiar form 
of existence he must next assume. When a man dies 
he is immediately born into a new shape according to 
his merit or demerit in following the Eightfold Path, 
and his shape varies from the lowest or most disgusting 
animal imaginable up to a divinity. In case of extreme 
demerit he ma}^ descend into any one of the one hun- 
dred and thirty-six Buddhistic hells in the centre of the 



Buddha s Tripitaka 103 

earth, where the minimum term of suflfering is ten 
millions of years. When Buddha attained enlighten- 
ment under the bo-tree he was able, it is claimed, to 
recall all of his previous forms of existence on the 
earth, in the air, in the water, in hell, and in heaven; 
and a great part of the Buddhistic legendary literature 
is devoted to narrating his good deeds in all these 
states. 

Man, according to the Tripitaka, is a combination of 
five bundles, namely, material qualities, sensations, 
abstract ideas, tendencies of mind, and mental powers. 
Death is the breaking up of this combination. But 
there is a force called Karma or destiny which is left 
behind, under the influence of which these bundles 
recombine and form a new individual. 

In his discourses Buddha considers mankind as di- 
vided into two classes : those who earnestly devote them- 
selves to the religious life, and those who cling more 
or less tenaciously to the world. At first he formed 
all of his disciples into a Brotherhood and gave them 
ten prohibitions or commandments for their observance. 
But later as his followers increased in numbers he 
exempted the laymen from a portion of these regu- 
lations. The first five of the commandments which 
are of universal obligation are the following : Thou 
shalt not kill (even the humblest insect); thou shalt 
not steal ; thou shalt not commit adultery ; thou shalt 
not lie (or indulge in any form of harsh language); 
thou shalt not use strong drink. 

The remaining five, which are for the special guid- 
ance of the Brotherhood, require them to abstain from 
taking food out of season, that is, after midday, and 
from looking at dances or plays ; from listening to 
songs or music ; from using any kind of perfumery 



I04 The Sphere of Religion 

and from wearing ornaments ; from having a large mat 
or quilt upon which to sleep ; and from receiving gold 
or silver. 

For those who devoted themselves exclusively to 
the religious life twelve other observances of a much 
severer kind are enjoined. Among others, that they 
are to dress only in rags sewed together with their own 
hands and a yellow cloak made in the same way to 
throw over their shoulders ; to eat only food given in 
charity and but once a day ; to live in the jungle and 
to have no roof but the foliage of the trees ; never to 
lie down when they sleep and never to change the 
position of their mat when once spread ; and, lastly, to 
go monthly to a cemetery to meditate on the vanity 
of life. 

In addition to these prohibitions and observances the 
cultivation of certain positive virtues as works of super- 
erogation is enjoined by the Tripitaka. Respect for 
parents, charity for others, and solicitude for the wel- 
fare of every living thing are carried by the teachings 
of the Buddhists to the greatest extreme. Their sym- 
pathy for sorrowing humanity knows no bounds. It is 
probably this feature of the Buddhistic religion rather 
than any other that has caused it to spread so exten- 
sively over the Oriental world. While it now has little 
influence in India proper, it holds almost exclusive 
sway in Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Nepaul, and Thibet 
(where it is called Lamaism), rivals the adherents of 
Confucius in China, largely dominates in Korea and 
Japan, and extends as far north as Siberia and Lap- 
land. Over a third of the human race, it is alleged by 
many, is under its sway. But in this estimate all the 
Chinese and Japanese are classed as Buddhists. 

Buddhism, as James Freeman Clarke points out, is 



Buddha s Tripitaka 105 

Romanistic in its form, but Protestant in its spirit. The 
first Catholic missionaries were amazed at the likeness 
between the Buddhistic rites and ceremonies and their 
own. For the central object in a Buddhist temple is 
an image of the Buddha and a shrine containing his 
relics. Here flowers, fruit, and incense are daily of- 
fered in great profusion, and frequents processions are 
made with the singing of hymns. But fundamentally 
Buddhism is a protest against the doctrine that salva- 
tion is to be secured by following the prescriptions of a 
priestly caste. It is thus made purely a matter of the 
individual. 

In ancient India the whole life of a Brahman was divi- 
ded into four stages : the school, the household, the 
forest, and the solitude. Up to the age of twenty-seven 
he was a student under the constant direction and con- 
trol of a Guru. After that age had been reached, he was 
required to marry, to found a household, and to perform 
faithfully all the rites and ceremonies prescribed in the 
Vedas. When he had lived long enough to see his 
children's children, he was expected to relinquish his 
social and religious duties. He left his home and re- 
tired to the solitude of the forest. There he devoted 
himself without interruption to meditation upoi: the 
Upanishads, and sought in every way rest and peace by 
absorption in the divine. 

Buddha by his experiences in this direction became 
convinced that the preparatory stages of student and 
married life were of no avail, and he started out by urg- 
ing every man to enter at once upon the search for the 
higher life. As Max Miiller in describing the rise of 
Buddhism has well said : " The first and critical step 
consisted in Buddha's opening the doors of a forest life 
to all who wished to enter, whatever their age, what- 



io6 The Sphere of Religion 

ever their caste, " and he rightly emphasizes the fact 
that, ' ' this leaving of the world before a man had 
performed the duties of a student and of a father of a 
family was the great offence of Buddhism in the eyes 
of the Brahmans; for it was that which deprived the 
Brahmans of their exclusive social position as teachers, 
as priests, as guides and counsellors. In this sense 
Buddha may be said to have been a heretic and to have 
rejected the S3^stem of caste, the authority of the Veda, 
and the whole educational and sacrificial system as based 
on the Veda " ( The Nineteenth Century, vol. 33, p. 778). 

Still Buddhism was in no sense a new religion inde- 
pendent of Brahmanism. For it was chiefly derived 
from it and would be quite inconceivable without it. 
Both Buddhism and Brahmanism seek to escape from 
the vicissitudes of time by gaining the absolute rest of 
eternity. But the latter attempts to do this by pas- 
sive reception, the former by earnest individual effort. 
Brahmanism knows only absolute eternal spirit and 
calls this world an illusion. Buddhism knows this 
world only and calls the next, being so unlike this, a 
nullity. 

Much discussion has arisen among scholars as to 
what the Buddhistic doctrine of Nirvana, of heaven, 
really signifies. Such writers as Max Miiller, Schmidt, 
and others make it equivalent to annihilation, but 
many hold that it is nothing, only in the sense that it 
is a state or condition so opposite to all that we know 
in this life, and so exalted above our present powers to 
conceive, that it is the same as nothing to us now. 
Would human nature ever actually accept the former 
view and earnestly strive to bring about its perfect 
realization ? Is it likely that millions of men and 
women would spend their lives urging others to right 



The Bible of the Jews 107 

conduct in order to attain happiness or Nirvana here- 
after, if the absolute annihilation of the self were to be 
the inevitable result ? 

Buddhism emphasizes two great truths, namely, that 
religion is a rational matter, and that it is designed for 
all mankind. It appeals to human reason and has 
made its progress by preaching and not by force. It 
respects all men and has unbounded charity for all. It 
seeks to make known its gospel to every creature. 
Buddha says in so many words, '' My law is a law of 
grace for all." 

In a certain sense, however, Buddhism is a religion 
without a God. For it makes him as well as the good 
and heaven equivalent to nothing, at least in this 
present life. It leaves no room for the principle of 
love to come in either for God or for man. It con- 
tributes to religion the great doctrine of rewards and 
punishments, the reign of law, the equality of man, 
pity for human sorrow, self-denial, charity, and self- 
control. But it must radically change its conception 
of the relation of man to God and fully recognize that 
they are inseparable realities, capable of living here 
and now in constant and joyful accord, before it will 
be worthy of a high place among the forces that make 
for righteousness of life in our day. 

h. The Bible of the Jews. — The bible of the 
ancient Jews at the beginning of the Christian era ex- 
isted in two forms, the Palestinian collection and the 
Septua^i^int. The former was written in Hebrew and 
the latter in Greek. The Hebrew bible was dividetl 
into three parts, viz., The Law, The Prophets, and 
The Psalms. The Law comprised the first five bcx:)ks, 
which were known as ''The Law of Moses." This 
part the Jews considered to be the oldest of their Scrip- 



io8 The Sphere of Religion 

tures, and much more sacred and authoritative than 
any other portion. They said that God spake face to 
face with Moses, but less distinctly and positively to 
other holy men. 

The Prophets began with Joshua and ended with 
Malachi. This division included such books as Judges 
and Kings as well as Isaiah and Jeremiah, probably 
because it was supposed that the former were written 
by prophets as truly as the latter. The third division 
was often called The Writings. The Psalms was 
the initial book of the collection. It also included 
such books as Job, Ruth, and I^amentations, and ended 
with Chronicles. The writings in this group were 
much less esteemed by the Jews than those in the 
groups preceding, and some of them were supposed to 
have but a small measure of inspiration. The right of 
a few of them to be in the collection at all was much 
disputed among the Rabbis. 

The Septuagint had a diflFerent grouping of the 
books, and did not attempt to follow the chronological 
order. It arranged the books according to the subjects 
treated, putting the historical books first, the poetical 
next, and the prophetical last. The Septuagint also 
added several books not found in the Hebrew bible. 
The English bible follows the order of the Septuagint 
and so does the I^atin Vulgate. It is the Septuagint 
that is followed here. 

The first book, called Genesis, opens with a passage 
of almost unparalleled sublimity : "In the beginning 
God (Elohim) created the heaven and the earth, and 
the earth was without form and void ; and darkness 
was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God 
moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, I^et 
there be light, and there was light.'* 



The Bible of the Jews 109 

Soon there is a rapid descent from the dignity of this 
remarkable introduction and the stories that follow for 
some chapters are in many respects on a par with the 
mythologies of the other nations of antiquity. Elohim 
is represented as bringing the different objects on the 
earth into being by his mere fiat, accomplishiug the 
task in six days and resting on the seventh. 

To the man whom he had made out of " the dust of 
the ground," he gave dominion over all the earth and 
put him in a beautiful garden, having furnished him 
with a companion and helpmeet constructed out of a 
rib taken from his own body while he slept. A talking 
serpent soon beguiled the pair into taking some fruit 
from a tree in the garden that God had forbidden them 
to touch. The consequence was that when ''they 
heard the voice of the Lord God w^alking in the garden 
in the cool of the day " they attempted to hide them- 
selves from his presence. But he called them to him 
and insisted upon knowing what had happened. 

On hearing the account of their disobedience he im- 
mediately cursed the serpent and drove the man and 
his wife forever out of the garden, saying to the woman, 
"I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy concep- 
tion ; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children ; and 
thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule 
over thee." And to Adam he said, "Because thou 
hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and hast 
eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, 
Thou shalt not eat of it ; cursed is the ground for thy 
sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy 
life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to 
thee ; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the 
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou retuni 
unto the ground." Notwithstanding their hard lot 



1 1 o The Sphere of Religion 

the liuman race rapidly increased and multiplied 
according to the account, Adam himself living and be- 
getting children till he was nine hundred and thirty- 
years old, while some of his posterity lived to be still 
older. 

But human wickedness more than kept pace with 
the increase in numbers. Soon " it repented Jehovah 
( Yahveh) that he had made man on the earth ' ' and 
he therefore resolved to destroy everything upon its 
surface, ''both man and beast and the creeping thing, 
and the fowl of the air,'' with a great flood. But one 
man, Noah, '' found grace in the eyes of Jehovah " and 
• he was commanded to build a great ark and bring into 
it his wife and his sons with their wives, together with 
two of every sort of '* every living thing of all flesh." 
This he did and when the terrible flood came, lasting 
a hundred and fifty days, the ark and its contents 
alone survived the universal ruin. 

Then God blessed Noah and his sons and com- 
manded them to increase and multiply and replenish the 
earth ; and he made a covenant with them, setting his 
bow in the cloud as a token of his everlasting love and 
favor and as a pledge that ' * the waters shall no more 
become a flood to destroy all flesh." It is stated that 
Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years, 
dying at the age of nine hundred and fifty. No sooner, 
however, had the earth been repeopled than human sin 
and arrogance again brought things to a climax. An 
attempt was made to build '' a tower whose top should 
reach unto heaven." As soon as the rumors of this 
endeavor of men to become gods and set up for them- 
selves reached Jehovah, he at once '' came down to see 
the city and the tower, which the children of men 
builded." The result was that he immediately cut 



The Bible of the Jews 1 1 1 

short the project by confounding their language, '' and 
so Jehovah scattered them abroad from thence upon 
the face of all the earth." 

The next great event described in this history is the 
call of Abraham, who leaves his native city of Ur and 
follows the guidance of Jehovah into anew and strange 
land. There he becomes the founder of a great nation 
and the father of the faithful in all time. Twice before 
had Jehovah entered into covenant with mankind — 
with Adam and with Noah — and twice it had been 
broken. Now '^a chosen people is raised up through 
whom all the families of the earth are blessed." 

Two events in the life of Abraham are especially to 
be noted — his plea with Jehovah for the doomed cities 
of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the sacrifice of Isaac. 
The former is full of naive dignity and moral earnest- 
ness. Jehovah, having heard of the corruption of Sodom, 
accompanied by two angels comes down to inquire into 
the case. He first pays a visit to Abraham and takes a 
repast with him. Then he sends the angels to destroy 
the city, but after they have gone Abraham intercedes 
with Jehovah to spare the place, knowing that his kins- 
man Lot dwells in it. 

The narrative runs as follows : * ' And Abraham drew 
near and said, Wilt thou consume the righteous with 
the wicked? Perhaps there are fifty righteous men 
within the city. Wilt thou consume and not spare the 
place for the fifty righteous who are therein ? That be 
far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous 
with the wicked ; that so the righteous should be 
as the wicked ; that be far from thee; shall not the 
Judge of all the earth do right .^ And Jehovah said, If 
I find in vSodom fifty righteous, then I will spare all the 
place for their sake. And Abraham answered and said: 



1 1 2 The Sphere of Religion 

My Lord, I who am dust and ashes have taken upon 
me to speak to thee ; there may perhaps lack five of the 
fifty righteous ; wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of 
five ? And he said, I will not destroy it if I find there 
forty and five. 

' 'And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Perhaps 
there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will 
not do it for the forty's sake. And he said, O let not 
my Lord be angry, and I will speak ; perhaps there shall 
thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it if 
I find thirty there. And he said. Behold now, my Lord, 
I have taken upon me to speak to thee ; perhaps there 
shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not 
destroy it for the twenty's sake. And he said, O 
let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but once ; 
perhaps ten shall be found there. And he said, I will 
not destroy it for the ten's sake. And Jehovah went 
his wa}^ as soon as he had left communing with Abraham 
and Abraham returned unto his place" (Gen. xviii. 

23-33). 

The ten righteous men could not be found and the 
destruction of the city was complete. Lot alone escap- 
ing with his wife and daughters. But the wife looked 
back and w^as turned into a pillar of salt. 

When Abraham and Sarah his wife were in their ex- 
treme old age, Isaac, the long-promised seed, was born. 
But straightway the Lord ordered Abraham to offer him 
as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. This he. proceeded 
to do until he was stayed by divine interposition, and 
a ram was substituted in Isaac's place. 

To the mind of Abraham, according to these accounts, 
Jehovah was ''The Most High." He talked with 
Abraham face to face and was his personal protector 
and friend. He agreed to give him and his posterity 



The Bible of the Jews 1 1 3 

the land of Canaan, and in this promise Abraham had 
implicit faith. Abraham's belief in Jehovah did not 
exclude belief in other gods, but they were all inferior 
to his God. While he thought of Jehovah as almighty, 
he did not regard him as omniscient or omnipresent. 
When the rumors concerning the sinfulness of Sodom 
began to circulate, Jehovah had to come down to ascer- 
tain whether they were correct or not. And he had 
doubts about the faith of Abraham, so he ordered him to 
sacrifice his son Isaac. 

Joseph, one of the descendants of Abraham, owing 
to his skill in interpreting dreams rose to high dignity 
and honor in the court of Egypt, and it was through 
his agency that the entire Israelitish family in a time 
of famine was allowed to settle in the rich pasture 
lands in the northern part of that country. Genesis 
closes with an account of the death of Joseph and his 
assertion to his brethren that * ' Jehovah will surely 
visit you and bring you out of this land unto the land 
which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.'* 

Exodus tells us that the rapid increase of this ' ' chosen 
people" in numbers and wealth soon began to alarm 
the ruler of the Egyptians and he resolved to despoil 
them of their possessions and reduce them to the class 
of slaves. It also tells us how, in this emergency, 
Moses was raised up to be their leader and to g^iide 
them back into the land that Jehovah had promised to 
their fathers. Early adopted by the daughter of Pha- 
raoh, Moses had been thoroughly educated in all the 
learning of the Egyptian priesthood and for many 
years had enjoyed all the honors and privileges of a 
member of the royal court. But his heart went out 
toward his sufTering brethren. Because of some act of 
cruelty he smote to the ground an overseer who was in 



114 ^^^ Sphere of Religion 

charge of some Jewish slaves. This made him an exile 
and it was while living as a shepherd in Arabia Petrea 
that *' the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a 
flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. . . . 
The bush burned with fire and the bush was not con- 
sumed. . . . God called unto him out of the 
midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he 
said, Here am I.'' As a result of the extended inter- 
view that followed Moses was commissioned to go to 
Pharaoh and bring forth the chosen people out of 
Egypt **unto a good land and a large, unto a land 
flowing with milk and honey.'' 

To assure Moses of his continued presence in the 
carrying out of this undertaking, Jehovah directed him 
to cast his shepherd's rod upon the ground and imme- 
diately it became a serpent. *' And Jehovah said unto 
Moses, Put forth thy hand and take it by the tail. 
And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it be- 
came a rod in his hand. That they may believe that 
Jehovah the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, 
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared 
unto thee." In the same way Jehovah changed the 
hand of Moses instanter into a leprous hand as white as 
snow, and back again into a hand of natural flesh. 

With his rod Moses brought many deadly plagues 
upon Eg}^^- With it he parted the Red Sea and let 
the chosen people pass through on dry land to the 
number of *' about six hundred thousand on foot that 
were men, besides children." With it he caused the 
waters of the sea to return and engulf the pursuing 
hosts of Pharaoh so that *' there remained not so 
much as one of them." He smote the rock in Horeb 
with it and the water gushed out in great abundance, 
and he repeatedly gave instantaneous success to the 



The Bible of the Jews 115 

armies of Israel against enormous odds by raising it 
aloft. 

When the Children of Israel arrived at Mount Sinai, 
Jehovah came down upon the top of the mount, and 
amid great ''thunderings and the lightnings and the 
noise of the trumpet '' he called Moses up to the top of 
the mount, and when he had made an end of commun- 
ing with him he gave him "two tables of testimony, 
tables of stone, written with the finger of God.'* When 
Moses came down from the mount he showed to the 
people the Ten Commandments on these tables, and 
proclaimed them as the law of the land. 

The rest of Exodus from the twentieth chapter con- 
taining these commandments, is taken up with a de- 
scription of the efforts of Moses to organize the peopl^ 
into a nation under a divinely prescribed system of cere- 
monial laws. 

Leviticus contains numerous special laws, chiefly 
those relating to public worship, festivals, and similar 
topics. 

Numbers gives a supplement to the laws and tells of 
the weary march through the desert and the beginning 
of the conquest of Canaan. 

In Deuteronomy Moses, as an old man near his end, 
reminds the people of the experiences they have gone 
through, of the laws they have received, and exhorts 
them to follow and obey Jehovah. 

In the book of Joshua we read of the conquest and 
partition of Canaan and of the farewell exhortation and 
death of Joshua. 

Judges describes the anarchy and apostasy that soon 
followed. It tells of the consequent subjugation of the 
chosen people by their heathen neighbors and the ex- 
ploits of the heroes that were raised up to rescue them. 



1 1 6 The Sphere of Religion 

The two books of Samuel give us an account of Sam- 
uel's life as a prophet and judge, and the history of 
Saul and David. 

In the books of Kings we read of the death of David, 
the brilliant reign of Solomon, the decline of the king- 
dom, the revolt of the ten tribes, their practical anni- 
hilation, the carrying away into captivity of the greater 
part of the kingdom of Judah, and the fate of the miser- 
able remnant. At the same time the books describe the 
treatment of the noble prophets who kept on testif^dng 
for God in spite of the opposition of wicked kings and 
the indifference of a degenerate people. 

Chronicles supplements this history and Ruth is in- 
troduced as an episode in the time of the Judges, telling 
with exquisite grace how Ruth the Moabitess came to 
marry Boaz, the great-grandfather of David. 

Ezra and Nehemiah close the strictly historical part 
by describing the return of the chosen people from their 
foreign exile, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the res- 
toration of the temple worship. The book of Esther re- 
cords the wonderful escape of the Jews from annihilation 
w^hile held in captivity by their Persian conquerors. 

The book of Job is a philosophical work of great 
beauty of diction, abounding in profound thoughts, es- 
pecially upon the origin of evil and the mission of 
suffering, and inculcating the duty of absolute resig- 
nation to God's mysterious will. 

The Psalms are a collection of devotional lyrics much 
prized by the Jews. The first one reads as follows : 

" I. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the 
counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of 
sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 

" 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord ; and 
in his law doth he meditate day and night. 



The Bible of the Jews 1 1 7 

''3. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers 
of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season ; his 
leaf also shall not wither ; and whatsoever he doeth 
shall prosper. 

' ' 4. The ungodly are not so : but are like the chaflf 
which the wind driveth awa3^ 

''5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the 
judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the 
righteous. 

'' 6. For the Lord knoweth the w^ay of the righteous : 
but the way of the ungodly shall perish." 

The twenty-third Psalm is perhaps the gem of the 
collection, and consists of the following verses : 

'' I. The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. 

'* 2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: 
he leadeth me beside the still waters. 

''3. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the 
paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 

" 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the 
shadow of death, I will fear no evil : for thou art with 
me ; thy rod and thy staflFthey comfort me. 

'' 5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence 
of mine enemies : thou anointest my head with oil ; my 
cup runneth over. 

** 6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all 
the days of my life : and I will dwell in the house of 
the Lord for ever. ' ' 

The Proverbs is a book of wise maxims and short 
discourses on more or less practical affairs. Ecclesiastes 
is an eloquent wail over the transitoriness of all earthly 
things, and the Song of Solomon is an amatory idyl, the 
mission of which it is liard to explain. The Jews had a 
rule that no one should read it till he was t)ver thirty, and 
the utility of reading it at all was often iiuestioned. 



1 1 8 The Sphere of Religion 

The remaining books of the bible of the Jews from 
Isaiah to Malachi are prophetic in their character. 
They take the religious experiences and ideas that the 
historical books make known to us, and show how they 
ought to inspire the people with unremitting zeal in 
their conflict with unbelief and apostasy. They also 
point out how those who are faithful to Jehovah ought 
to look forward with high anticipation for the future. 
For deep religious feeling and sublime conceptions of 
God, for beautiful diction and rich imagery, many of 
these books are unsurpassed. As a whole they reveal 
the nation's heart and purpose in a way that is unique 
in the history of any race or people. As one of the 
best samples of this kind of literature in the Old 
Testament we may take the fifty-fifth chapter of 
Isaiah : 

'' I. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
waters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy and 
eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, 
and without price. 

''2. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is 
not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth 
not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that 
which is good, and let your soul delight itself in 
fatness. 

'' 3. Incline your ear, and come unto me : hear, and 
your soul shall live ; and I will make an everlasting 
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. 

'' 4. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the 
people, a leader and commander to the people. 

"5. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou 
knowest not ; and nations that knew not thee shall 
run unto thee, because ,of the Lord thy God, and for 
the Holy One of Israel ; for he hath glorified thee. 



The Bible of the Jews 1 1 g 

*' 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call 
ye upon him while he is near. 

''7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the un- 
righteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto 
the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him : and to 
our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 

'* 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither 
are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 

*' 9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 
so are my ways higher than your ways, and my 
thoughts than your thoughts. 

" 10, For as the rain cometh down, and the snow, 
from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth 
the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it 
may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater ; 

''11. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of 
my mouth ; it shall not return unto me void ; but it 
shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall pros- 
per in the thing w^hereto I sent it. 

"12. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth 
with peace : the mountains and the hills shall break 
forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the 
field shall clap their hands. 

"13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, 
and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree : 
and it shall be to the Lord for a name, fur an everlast- 
ing sign that shall not be cut off." 

In recent years the several books of this Hebrew 
bible have been studied as to their origin and composi- 
tion with scrupulous care by a great number of eminent 
scholars such as luclihorn, Graf, Blcck, Wellliauscn, 
and Holzinger in Germany ; Kuenen and his followers 
in Holland ; Cheyiie and Driver in luiglaiul ; Ruhcrtson 
Smith and George Adam vSinitli in vScotlaiul ; aiul Toy, 



1 20 The Sphere of Religion 

Briggs, Bacon, Kent, and Mitchell in America. The 
result is that few, if any, investigators in our day disa- 
gree with the opinion that what we call the Old Testa- 
ment was not originally written as we now" have it, but 
is the work of a great number of prophets, and priests, 
and sages, extending over a long period of time. 
' ' Some of the oldest poems of the Old Testament, ' ' 
says Professor Kent, ' ' go back to the days of the 
Judges, about B.C. 1200, and certain of the Psalms and 
the Book of Daniel are in all probability later than 
B.C. 200.'* 

Almost every book in this Hebrew bible is now re- 
garded as a conglomerate made up of material taken 
from earl}" and late sources, joined together by faithful 
copyists and editors, who were mterested in preserving 
them for future times. In other words, it is now recog- 
nized that the history of the bible of the Hebrews is 
like that of other ancient sacred books. It began with 
the recording of the songs and legends of the people 
and then gradually received other additions by way of 
prophetic utterances and ceremonial laws, till it finally 
crystallized into its present form and came to be re- 
garded as an unalterable rule of faith and practice. 

Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, is now 
held to be made up of two great compilations. The 
first is a histor}" written from the point of view of the 
prophets and consists of two documents called respec- 
tively the Jehovistic and the Elohistic, because of the 
term uniformly applied to God in each of them. The 
fact that these documents often described the same 
events accounts for the many stories repeated in the 
book, especially in the first part. The second is a 
priestly history forming a setting to the priestly code. 
This is held to be post-exilic in origin, the author get- 



The Bible of the Jews 1 2 1 

ting much of his material for the account of creation, 
the origin of the Sabbath, the Flood, and other alleged 
prehistoric events during the Babylonish captivity. 
The first compilation is regarded as the work of a 
Judean editor about 750 B.C. It is evident, therefore, 
that the book of Genesis came into being gradually, 
and, long after the time of Moses took on its present 
form. 

The composite character of Exodus is seen in the fact 
that the legislative sections, namely, xxi.-xxiii., known 
as the Book of the Covenant ; xx. 1-17, the Decalogue; 
and xxxiv. 10-28, the older Decalogue, evidently be- 
long to different periods. It is the general opinion of 
competent authorities that the oldest form of the Deca- 
logue cannot be much older than the eighth century, 
several centuries after the time of Moses. Numbers is 
moral in tone rather than ritual, and the stress laid 
upon the prohibition of image-worship requires a later 
date than that of Elijah and Elisha. 

As to Leviticus the Law of Holiness (chapters xvii.- 
xxvi.) is now believed to have been compiled during the 
exile, and, together with the Priestly Code making up 
the rest of the book and the book of Numbers, to have 
been put into its present form by the editors of the Pen- 
tateuch after the return from Babylon about 444 B.C. 

The chronological order of these codes is now thought 
to be as follows : Book of the Covenant, Deuteronomic 
Code, Law of Holiness, and Priestly Code. In the first 
there is no restriction of the worship of Jehovah to a 
single sanctuar}^ but there is in all the others. The 
Holiness Code recognizes only Aaronites as priests. The 
Priestly Code makes a sharp division between Levites 
and priests. 

Scholars are now j^ractically unanimous that the book 



1 2 2 The Sphere of Religion 

of Deuteronomy is the book referred to in 2 Kings xxii. 
8, as having been found in the eighteenth year of Jo- 
siah (622 B.C.) by the High Priest Hilkiah. It is also 
agreed that this law-book was not by any means as ex- 
tensive as the present book of Deuteronomy. Mau}^ 
think that it consisted of chapters v.-xxvi., composed 
not earlier than the time of Hezekiah, and perhaps by 
Hilkiah himself. The rest of the work according to 
the scholars of to-day is made up of later additions to 
fit the book into its present place in the Pentateuch. 
Such investigators as Kuenen, Graf, Wellhausen, and 
Stade regard the Deuteronomic Code as based upon the 
Book of the Covenant (Ex. xxi.-xxiii.) which it en- 
larges and adapts to new conditions. *They also hold 
that it is older than the Law of Holiness (Lev. xvii.- 
xxvi.) and the Priestly Code. 

It is now maintained that the original Deuteronomy 
was probably written in Jerusalem, where a special ef- 
fort was made after the destruction of the northern king- 
dom to form an ideal code that would keep the people 
true to the worship of Jehovah. And as all the proph- 
ets were constantly pointing to the days of the wan- 
derings in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses 
as the ideal days, tradition gradually came to attri- 
bute the authorship of the book to Moses, the subject- 
matter being made over by editors to fit in with this view. 

The first five books of the Hebrew bible are no longer 
regarded as making up a consistent whole. The book 
of Joshua is now included with them and the collection 
is called the Hexateuch, the word Pentateuch being 
excluded from use, when the attempt is made to deal 
with an actual grouping of the facts. 

The book of Joshua, it is now admitted, was written 
long after the time of Joshua. The historical narrative 



The Bible of the Jews 123 

in it, practically all agree, was probably written in the 
seventh century B.C., while the various codes and the 
priestly history were added several centuries later. 
Joshua, it is now held, was a prominent leader in the 
movement which brought the Hebrews into posses- 
sion of the lands to the west of Jordan, and in all like- 
lihood captured Jericho, but the other deeds attributed 
to him in the book belong to later periods. 

The books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings are no 
longer regarded as histories in the proper sense of that 
term. The events recorded in them do not follow each 
other either chronologically or otherwise according to 
any discoverable plan. Together with the books that 
precede them, constituting the Hexateuch, they form 
in the opinion of modern scholars a great historical 
compilation extending from the creation to the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II. in 586 b. c. 
It was made from numerous sources that were put into 
their present form by redactors of post- exilic times, who 
took it for granted that the promises alleged to have 
been made to Abraham and Moses regarding the pos- 
session of Canaan and the future greatness of the 
Hebrew people had already been literally fulfilled. 

Chronicles is now considered as one work with Kzra 
and Nehemiah, they all having a common author. It 
is evident that the writer lived some time after Ezra 
and was devoted to the religious institutions of the new 
theocracy. It is doubtful if the references to Ezra and 
Nehemiah as leavint; memoirs are authentic. It is also 
doubtful if any return of exiles in large numbers took 
place in the time of Cyrus. 

As a consequence of this modern attempt to get at the 
facts scholars now hold that there was an individual by 
the name of Moses of whom we have some distinct 



124 The Sphere of Religion 

reminiscences, but for the most part the name designates 
a personage around whom there gradually came to be 
centred all the traditions, legends, and myths connected 
with the exodus from Egypt and the settlement of the 
people in their own land. 

In the opinion of a large number of scholars Abraham 
designates a tribe merely and not an individual. Some, 
however, regard him as a real personage who probably 
had his home at Hebron. All admit that many of the 
stories told of him have come down from various 
periods and preserve for us a picture of the conditions 
that prevailed in the earliest times of which the people 
centuries after his demise had any recollection. 

Some scholars now hold that Isaac is a tribal name, 
but that the character of the tribe has been almost en- 
tirely obscured by the many legends that have grown 
up around a supposed personality. The incidents in 
the story of the offering up of Isaac on Mount Moriah 
were invented, it is thought, to account for the pro- 
hibition of human sacrifices as set forth in the Penta- 
teuchal codes, and to emphasize the claims of Jerusalem 
as the only legitimate sanctuary of Jehovah. The home 
of the tribe was probably Beersheba,just as Hebron was 
of Abraham and Bethel of Jacob. The stories about 
these three patriarchs, it is held, represent the gradual 
coalition of the traditions of the three clans that united 
to form the confederacy known as the Bene Israel or 
Children of Israel. 

David, in the opinion of most modern scholars, was 
a great warrior and a natural born leader of men, full 
of courage and inexhaustible energy. But he was often 
cruel to his enemies, sometimes treacherous, and always 
willing to adopt any measures to accomplish his ends. 
Many hold that he did not write any poetry, excepting. 



The Bible of the Jews 125 

perhaps, the dirge on the deaths of Saul and Jonathan. 

The life and works of Solomon, David's son and 
successor, are described, it is believed, with considerable 
accuracy in Kings, though highly colored by legendary 
lore added several centuries later than the earlier docu- 
ments upon which the account in Kings is based. The 
books ascribed to him — Proverbs, Canticles, and Ec- 
clesiastes — are all of them now regarded as much later 
than his day. The description of the temple he built 
is generally considered to be a great exaggeration, 
while the account of the ceremonies that took place in 
it is held to be post-exilic, and so is also the prayer of 
consecration. Such a story as that of the alleged visit 
of the Queen of Sheba to learn by personal observ^ation 
of the glory of Solomon, naturally came to connect 
itself in the minds of the people with his magnificent 
reign. 

All authorities agree that the book of Proverbs is a 
combination of several distinct collections, and that 
some of the sayings may go back to the time of 
Solomon. Yet the work as a whole was a gradual 
growth and must have extended over several centuries. 
It is believed that the first of the eight sections 
(chapters i.-ix.) into which it is divided is the latest, 
and was not put into its present form till about 250 h.c. 
The second section (chapters x.-xxii.) is regarded as 
the oldest and composed not long before the return 
from Babylonia. 

Of the one hundred and fifty compositions making 
up the book of Psalms, seventy-three came eventually 
to be ascribed to David. But it is now held by Ols- 
hausen, Chcyne, George Adam vSniith, and other 
eminent scholars tliat none of the Psalms were written 
in his time, or even before the exile. vSoine, however, 



126 The Sphere of Religion 

would admit the existence of pre-exilic Psalms and a 
few are still of the opinion that the first Psalm and 
possibly several others are Davidic. The first of the 
three collections into which the Psalms are now 
divided, scholars tell us, was probably compiled in the 
days of Ezra ; the second in the Persian period ; and 
the third in the Greek, close to the beginning of the 
Christian era. lyong before any of the Psalms were 
composed there must have existed much of what may 
be called folk-poetry, such as David's lament over 
Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel i. 17-27), the Song of 
the Well (Numbers xxi. 17-18), the Song of Lamech 
(Genesis iv. 23-24), and the Song of Deborah (Judges 
v. 1-3 1 ). The lost book of Jasher was probably a 
book of songs. 

Canticles is now regarded as a collection of songs 
used at weddings and similar gatherings. Instead of 
being written by Solomon, it is supposed to be one of 
the latest compilations to find a place in the Hebrew 
canon. Because Solomon early became the ideal repre- 
sentative of wisdom and riches and power, the original 
author of Ecclesiastes naturally ascribed his book to 
him as the best judge of the vanity of life. Everything 
is doubted in the book except, indeed, the divine ex- 
istence, — the advantages of wisdom and virtue, and 
even the justice and goodness of God. It is thoroughly 
pessimistic and was probably written at some special 
period of depression in the history of the Jews. It was 
admitted into the canon only after later editors had 
interspersed some elevating sentiments through the 
body of it, and especially had added a pious conclusion 
to soften down its audacious tone. 

The longest and greatest of all the prophetic books 
of the Old Testament is Isaiah. It is now considered 



The Bible of the Jews 1 2 7 

by modern scholars as the work of several authors, ex- 
tending over a long period of time. They account for 
its existence as follows : The discourses of Isaiah, who 
was born about 760 B.C., form only a small portion of 
the book, and these have been much changed to adapt 
them to more modern conditions. The watchword of 
Isaiah was that no people can prosper except by right 
conduct, and the impression that this message made 
upon his own age was propagated to later times. He 
thus became the type of all genuine prophets of Jeho- 
vah. Every one who brought forth a similar message 
for the people strove to have it considered a part of 
Isaiah's. 

The book is a twofold collection. The first takes 
in chapters i.-xxxiii., and contains the discourses 
of Isaiah; the second (chapters xxxiv.-lxvi.) is 
exilic and post-exilic, and must be the work of several 
other authors. Isaiah was a prophet of doom, but he 
came to be supplemented later by the prophets of hope. 
The book probably extends from the last of the eighth 
century B.C. to the beginning of the third. Chapter ii. 
stands by itself and seems to be a very late introduction 
written after the rest of the collection had come into 
its present form. 

The second of the four major prophetical books, 
Jeremiah, appears to have had an origin very similar to 
that of Isaiah. Only a few of the discourses in it, it is 
now believed, can be definitely ascribed to Jeremiah, 
who was born about 650 B.C., and no one of these is 
probably just as he delivered it. The compilers of the 
book have sought to bring together under his name 
whatever they could find that would give consolation 
and inspiring thoughts to the faithful. It is chiefly the 
product of the sad days tliat followrd the departure of 



128 The Sphere of Religion 

Nehemiah and reaches down to the uprivsing of the 
Maccabees. 

The book of Lamentations is not now generally 
ascribed to Jeremiah though it is admitted that the 
work has been greatly influenced by his style and 
thought. Most of the elegies or dirges in it were com- 
posed to bewail catastrophes that befell the people both 
before and after the exile. 

Scholars now maintain that most of the prophecies 
that have come down to us in Ezekiel are substantially 
as they were left by the prophet, who was himself one 
of the captives carried to Babylonia at the command of 
Nebuchadnezzar. By visions, parables, and allegories, 
he endeavored to arouse the masses to a genuine reali- 
zation of the sad events that were transpiring around 
them, and at the same time to comfort and encourage 
them for the future. 

That the book of Daniel was composed about the 
year 165 B.C. is now admitted by practically all schol- 
ars. The narratives and visions refer to conditions that 
existed in Jerusalem at the time when the Jews were 
being bitterly oppressed because of their religion by An- 
tiochus IV., surnamed Epiphanes, King of Syria 187- 
164 B.C. While some hold that the book is the work 
of several authors most scholars now regard it as the 
product of a single mind. Antiochus was endeavoring 
to supplant the Jewish rites by introducing the Greek 
form of worship. The author of Daniel, using differ- 
ent historical names, such as Nebuchadnezzar, Belshaz- 
zar, and Darius for his attacks upon Antiochus, makes 
every effort he can by the use of figures and visions to 
stir up his compatriots to throw off the hated yoke. 
The book did in all probability have much to do in 
bringing about the Maccabean uprising which for a 



The Bible of the Jezvs 129 

time gave the Jews great hope of restoring their 
national unity and power. 

Of the so-called twelve minor prophets scholars are 
agreed that they each represent original discourses 
much modified by later additions and interpolations. 
They are not arranged in chronological order, either in 
the Hebrew or in the English bible. 

Malachi, although the last in the English version, is 
now regarded as belonging to the Persian period and 
as written about the first half of the fourth century 
B.C., when the evils described in it were beginning 
to reach their climax. Moreover, the title Malachi in 
the opinion of many scholars does not refer to any in- 
dividual, but is to be taken literally as ''my messen- 
ger." Others in the list of the minor prophets are 
probably also anonymous. No one claims that the 
book of Jonah contains his prophecies. It is merely a 
story about him, an allegory teaching the lesson that 
man cannot escape from God by flight, and that when 
one has a duty to perform he should do it fearlessly, 
leaving results to God. 

It is now held that the thing that most radically af- 
fected the composition and character of the Hebrew 
bible was the Babylonian captivity. When Jerusalem 
fell the people for the first time in their history began to 
realize their true position. They began to sec that their 
calamities were due to their sins in not following the 
injunctions of their prophets ; and that, if they were 
ever to regain their national existence, they must make 
up their minds to abolish all other deities and rites 
and worship Jehovah alone. During the exile 
they had due time to reflect upon the situation. 
Their leaders searched into the annals and traditions 
of the past and they found that whenever they had 



130 The Sphere of Religion 

turned aside to other gods disasters at once began to 
multiply. 

Nothing, therefore, was of greater moment to them 
than to know exactly w^hat course of action and life 
would be acceptable to Jehovah. Their prophets and 
scribes set to work to prepare such a code. Ezra, who 
was the chief agent in this work, first introduced the 
code with the aid of Nehemiah at the time when a small 
remnant of the faithful gathered together about the ruins 
of Jerusalem in 444 B.C. From that time forth this 
code was regarded as embodying the direct, unchange- 
able will of Jehovah. Later, after many legends and 
much historical matter had been added to it, it became 
our present Pentateuch, which was itself finally incor- 
porated with other laws and traditions ending with the 
second book of Kings. 

The whole Hebrew bible represents a period of liter- 
ary- activit}' of over a thousand years, ending with the 
book of Daniel about 165 b. c. The style of its thought 
is intuitive rather than logical. It has little interest in 
scientific method, 3'et its love of nature is one of its most 
striking features. The subjects it treats concern almost 
every phase of human life. Its chief aim is to present 
the character and will of Jehovah and to set forth the 
principles upon which he governs his universe. Its 
legal codes were intended to show the people how they 
might attain their own highest development and at the 
same time carr}' out the plans and purposes of their God. 
Many of the Psalms voice the feelings and the attitude 
of will that characterize every trul}- religious individual. 

The modern study of the book has brought out the 
fact that the truths it contains are the result of centuries 
of growth and development from the gross and super- 
ficial to the deeply spiritual and profound. The message 



The Christian Scriptures 13 r 

that it brings to mankind must always remain a living 
and a vital one. 

i. The Christian Scriptures.— The book con- 
taining the history and teachings of early Christianity 
is now called the New Testament, and even the most 
casual reader cannot fail to see that it was written to 
record the experiences of a small number of people in 
a decidedly obscure corner of the earth. 

The book is a collection of writings which may well 
be arranged, as we now have them, into three main 
groups. To the first or the historical group belong the 
four gospels, giving an account of the life and dis- 
courses of Jesus, and the Acts of the Apostles, describ- 
ing the influence of that life upon the Jewish and pagan 
world of their day. The second, or didactic and hor- 
tatory group, is made up of thirteen epistles of Paul, 
two of Peter, three of John, one epistle of James, and 
one of Jude. The third consists solely of the book of 
Revelation. 

The four gospels are attributed lespectively to Mat- 
thew, Mark, Luke, and John. Chapter i. of Matthew's 
gospel begins with, "The book of the generation of 
Jesus Christ,'' tracing it back to Abraham through 
Joseph, the husband of Mary of whom Jesus was born. 
Then follows the announcement by an angel of the Lord 
to Joseph of the coming virgin birth of Jesus. Chapter ii. 
tells of the visit of the Magi who came to worship the 
infant Jesus, being guided by a star which ''went be- 
fore them till it came and stood over where the youni; 
child was." Herod the King sought to kill the child, 
but Joseph fled with his family into Ivgypt, returning 
after the death of Ilcrod and settling at Nazareth. 
After a brief resume of the ministry of John the 
Baptist and his baptism of Jesus in chapter iii., we 



132 The Sphere of Religion 

have an account of the fasting and temptation of Jesus 
in the first part of chapter iv. The rest of the chap- 
ter tells us how Jesus began to preach, to call his fol- 
lowers from their fishing nets, and to heal all manner 
of diseases. 

From this point on the author seems to abandon the 
chronological order for the topical. Chapters v., vi., 
and vii. contain a group of discourses describing the 
character of the Messianic Kingdom, now called the 
Sermon on the Mount, which begins with the following 
Beatitudes (Chapter v. 3-16.): 

'' Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the king- 
dom of heaven. 

' ' Blessed are they that mourn : for they shall be 
comforted. 

"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the 
earth. 

' ' Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 
righteousness : for they shall be filled. 

' ' Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain 
mercy. 

* ' Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 

** Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be 
called the children of God. 

"Blessed are they which are persecuted for right- 
eousness' sake : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. . 

" Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and per- 
secute you, and shall say all manner of evil against 
you falsely, for my sake. 

" Rejoice, and be exceeding glad : for great is your 
reward in heaven : for so persecuted they the prophets 
which were before you." 

In chapter vi. 9-13 we have what is now commonly 
called the Lord's Prayer which reads as follows : 



The Christian Scriptures 133 

'' Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy 
name. 

''Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, 
as it is in heaven. 

'' Give us this day our daily bread : 

'* And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 

''And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us 
from evil : For thine is the kingdom, and the power, 
and the glor}^ for ever. Amen." 

The next two chapters describe a series of miracles 
Jesus performed, such as cleansing the leper, stilling 
the tempest, raising from death the daughter of Jairus, 
and giving sight to two blind men. Then comes an- 
other group of discourses, or parables, setting forth the 
nature of the Messianic Kingdom, which in turn is fol- 
lowed by another group of miracles covering chapters 
x.-xiv. So far we have the ministry of Jesus in 
Galilee. With a similar grouping of miracles and dis- 
courses his ministry north and east of Galilee is de- 
scribed in chapters xv.-xviii. The latter part of the 
gospel is taken up with his work in and about Jerusa- 
lem, closing with an account of his betrayal, trial, 
crucifixion, and resurrection. 

The writer clearly shows that his purpose is to set 
forth Jesus as the promised Jewish Messiah. But he 
severely rebukes the view of the Messiah held by the 
Scribes and Pharisees of his time, and strongly em- 
phasizes the commission of Jesus to go into all the 
world and make disciples of all nations. 

The gospel according to Mark, although it goes over 
much of the same ground as the gospel according to 
Matthew, differs from it in being more simple in its 
structure and in following the normal chronolo.uical 
order of events in the life of Jesus. In the first thirteen 



134 The Sphere of Religion 

verses it briefly describes the work of John the Baptist 
and the baptism and temptation of Jesus. It then 
takes up the popular work of Jesus in and beyond 
Galilee, setting it forth mainly as a work of instruction 
for his immediate disciples (chapter i. 14-ix. 29). Then 
begins the journey to Jerusalem when Jesus clearly an- 
nounces his coming death, which, according to Mark, 
seems to have determined from that time on the charac- 
ter of his work. At Jerusalem Jesus lays his claims to 
be the Messiah before the religious leaders, who per- 
sistently reject them (chapters ix. 30-xiii. 37). The 
concluding chapters, as with Matthew, deal with the 
betrayal, crucifixion, and resurrection. 

Mark makes no reference to the virgin birth of Jesus, 
or the Sermon on the Mount. When he introduces 
any of the discourses of Jesus they are very much 
shorter than in Matthew. The familiarity of the 
author with Jewish customs and ideas, as well as his in- 
timate acquaintance with the Aramaic language, shows 
that he was a Jew, but the constant need of explaining 
these customs and interpreting this language to his 
readers shows that he was writing for Gentile Chris- 
tians rather than for Jewish, as we found was the case 
with Matthew. 

The third of these gospels differs from either of the 
preceding both in the amount and the arrangement of 
its material. The author states in his introduction 
that his purpose is to give Theophilus, the person to 
whom the work is addressed, a more orderly and com- 
plete account of the ' ' things most surely believed 
among us " than he had already received. The narra- 
tive begins, not only with an extended description of 
the virgin birth of Jesus, but also of the birth of John 
the Baptist ; and ends with an account of the ascension. 



The Christian Scriptures 135 

Besides giving very much the same material as is 
found in Matthew and Mark, he adds many new de- 
tails and brings out many new facts ; for example, he 
alone gives the song of Mary, the prophetic song of 
Zacharias, the story of the shepherds, the song of 
Simeon, and the visit of the boy Jesus to Jerusalem. 
In describing the public ministry of Jesus the writer 
arranges his material into two main divisions about the 
same as Mark does, namely, the work of Jesus among 
the people and his work of instructing his disciples. 
The gospel of Luke alone contains an account of the 
transfiguration. The last journey of Jesus to Jerusa- 
lem is described at much greater length than in any of 
the other gospels, nearly ten chapters being devoted 
to it. 

It is admitted by the author that he was not an eye- 
witness of the events he describes, but he claims to 
have access to material that was prepared by those who 
" from the beginning were ej^e-witnesses and ministers 
of the word." He is evidently writing chiefly for 
Gentile readers, for he habitually quotes from the 
Septuagint translation, avoids the use of Aramaisms, 
and assumes that his readers are unacquainted with 
Palestinian geography and Jewish customs. 

In marked contrast with the three gospels already 
mentioned, the gospel of John is not in any sense a 
biography of Jesus. The author assumes that his 
readers already know of the principal events in the 
life of Jesus from other sources. Only the events of 
a very few days in his public ministry arc described at 
any length by him, probably less than twenty. The 
author himself declares that the puq:)ose of his writing 
is to help his readers to "believe that Jesus is the 
Christ, the Son of God" (xx. 31), and he selects such 



1 36 The Sphere of Religion 

events and discourses as he thinks will contribute to 
this end. 

He asserts at the very outset that Jesus was the 
divine Logos incarnate, and introduces the prologue to 
his gospel with the following remarkable passage : '' In 
the beginning was the Word and the Word was with 
God and the Word was God. The same was in the 
beginning with God. All things were made by him , 
and without him was not anything made that was 
made. In him was life ; and the life was the light of 
men.'* The rest of the gospel is written to show how 
Jesus established this belief regarding himself in the 
minds and hearts of his disciples. 

The author tells us in the first four chapters how the 
earliest followers of Jesus began to have faith in him. 
Then he writes in the next eight chapters chiefly of 
the great conflict Jesus had with the unbelieving Jews 
and what unavailing efforts he put forth to convince 
them. Even the great miracle of the raising of Lazarus 
from the dead only made them more intensely hostile. 

The next section of the gospel (chapters xiii -xvii.) 
treats of the self-revelation of Jesus to his disciples. 
By washing their feet, by conversations at the supper 
about his relation to the Father and to them, by dis- 
courses on the way to Gethsemane, and by his inter- 
cessory prayers in their behalf, he made himself known 
to them in such a way that their faith in him was 
carried to the climax of intensity. Then follows the 
record of the chief culminating events in his earthly 
career, terminating in his glorious resurrection, and 
proving beyond all doubt to the mind of the writer 
that what he had claimed for Jesus in the prologue he 
reallj^ was. 

The gospel seems to have been written by an eye- 



The Christian Scriptures 137 

witness of many of the events recorded in it. In some 
of these events he seems also to have taken a prominent 
part. His way of referring to most of the persons he 
mentions gives the impression of an intimate acquaint- 
ance with them, and his knowledge of Palestine and of 
Jewish customs and ideas appears to be entirely first 
hand. The natural inference is that the author was a 
Jew who had broken away from the Judaism of this 
time and given himself heart and soul to the advocacy 
of the Christian s^^stem. 

The fifth book of the New Testament as we now 
have it, is called the Acts of the Apostles, and is sub- 
stantially a continuation of the third gospel. The 
first part, after giving a fuller account of the ascension 
than we find in Luke, describes at length the work of 
Peter in extending the church in and about Jerusalem 
(chapters i.-xii.). The second part tells of the mis- 
sionary journeys of Paul and his efforts to spread 
Christianity in Gentile lands. In this part the pro- 
noun *'we'V is frequently used, implying that the 
writer was a companion of Paul at the time and had 
much to do with the events described. 

Next comes the epistle to the Romans, the first of 
the thirteen epistles attributed in our New^ Testament 
to Paul. In this epistle the author states at the out- 
set that he is intending to make his readers a visit, but 
at the time of writing is under obligation to go to Jeru- 
salem. Very naturally under the circumstances he docs 
what he can to inform them as to the vital matters in 
his preaching and thus prepare them to give him a 
friendly reception when on his coming tour he arrives 
in the metropolis of the world. 

The epistle naturally divides itself into two main jx>r- 
tions. The first part is chiefly doctrinal, ending with the 



138 The Sphere of Religion 

doxology in chapter xi. 36, and the second is chiefl}^ 
practical. Paul at first explains his doctrine of justifi- 
cation through faith, and then, after vindicating the 
doctrine historically and experimentally against many 
conceivable objections, he shows why it ought to be 
preached to the Gentiles in spite of the fact that ' ' sal- 
vation is of the Jews." The last chapter of the epistle 
is devoted to salutations to those in the Roman church 
with whom the writer had a personal acquaintance. 

The epistle to the Romans is followed by two epistles 
to the Corinthians. The first treats of the divisions 
and abuses that existed in the Corinthian church and 
answers a number of questions which had been asked 
by letter. In chapter xiii. of this epistle we have the 
following remarkable description of the essence of all 
religion : 

'* I. Though I speak with the tongues of men and 
of angels, and have not charity,! am become as sound- 
ing brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 

** 2. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and un- 
derstand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though 
I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and 
have not charity, I am nothing. 

** 3. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the 
poor, and though I give my bod}- to be burned, and 
have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 

^'4. Charity sufi'ereth long, and is kind; charity en- 
vieth not; charit}^ vaunteth not itself, is not pufied up ; 

*' 5. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her 
own, is not easil}^ provoked, thinketh no evil ; 

''6. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the 
truth ; 

**7. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth 
all things, endureth all things. 



The Christian Scriptures 139 

'' 8. Charity never faileth: but whether there be pro- 
phecies, they shall fail: whether there be tongues, they 
shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall 
vanish away. 

'' 9. For we know in part, and we prophesy iu part. 

*' 10. But when that which is perfect is come, then 
that which is in part shall be done away. 

' * 1 1 . When I was a child, I spake as a child, I under- 
stood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I be- 
came a man, I put away childish things. 

** 12. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but 
then face to face ; now I know in part ; but then shall I 
know even as also I am known. 

** 13. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these 
three; but the greatest of these is charity.'* 

The second epistle to the Corinthians rebukes certain 
scandals that had arisen in the church, and seeks to 
restore Paul's apostolic authority, which had been 
questioned. 

The next epistle was written ** unto the churches of 
Galatia*' which apparently were composed chiefly of 
Gentiles. Outside agitators were trying to persuade 
them that they must observe the ceremonial law of 
Moses, especially the rite of circumcision. Against this 
Paul vigorously protests and insists upon his funda- 
mental doctrine of justification by faith and not by 
works. All that any believer has to do, he declares, is 
to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. 

The fifth epistle is addressed ''to the saints which 
are at Ephesus. ' ' The first three chapters are doctrinal ; 
the last three hortatory and practical. After setting 
forth that Christ is "the head over all things to the 
church " and has '' made us to sit together in heavenly 
places" through his grace and not through works, 



1 40 The Sphere of Religion 

Paul exhorts his readers to **walk worthy of the vo- 
cation '' wherewith they are called and *'keep the unity 
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ' * 

The sixth epistle of Paul is addressed ' * to all the 
saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with 
the bishops and deacons." He exhorts them to '*let 
nothing be done through strife and vainglory ; but in 
lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than 
themselves." They are to ''beware of evil workers 
and the false teachings in their midst, and to cleave 
earnestly and joyfully to the Christian life." 

In the epistle to the Colossians Paul exalts the 
headship of Christ over the world and its powers, 
warns his readers against the Gnostic errors that were 
beginning to assert themselves, and exhorts them to trust 
implicitly and solely for salvation to faith in Christ. 

Of the two epistles to the Thessalonians the first tells 
of the apostle's joy in their patient endurance of perse- 
cution, and he encourages them with the hope that the 
lyord would speedily return and deliver them out of all 
their distresses (chapter iv. 16-17). The second epistle 
is written to rebuke the Thessalonians for abandoning 
their usual occupations in view of this hope and urging 
that they be resumed. Meanwhile they should fix 
their attention upon certain events that must precede 
the Lord's second coming. 

The three following epistles, two to Timothy and one 
to Titus, are attributed in their opening passages to 
Paul. They are occupied chiefly with the apostle's in- 
structions as to the duties of the pastoral ofl&ce, a work 
in which the recipients were at the time engaged. The 
second epistle to Timothy is peculiar in that the last 
chapter contains a reference to the apostle's expected 
martyrdom. 



The Christian Scriptures 141 

Philemon is a letter on a purely private matter written 
by Paul to his friend in behalf of a fugitive slave who 
had become a Christian under his influence. He ex- 
horts his friend to pardon the slave and treat him as a 
Christian brother. 

The last of the epistles attributed to Paul in our au- 
thorized version of the New Testament is the letter to 
the Hebrew^s. The object of the epistle is to show the 
infinite superiority of Christ over Moses and to warn 
its readers against apostasy. It establishes the New 
Testament on the basis of the Old and sets forth the 
eternal character of the priesthood and sacrifice of 
Christ. The eleventh chapter gives a glowing sum- 
mary of the heroes of faith. 

The general epistle of James comes next and the two 
epistles of Peter. James writes to defend the doctrine 
that "by works a man is justified and not by faith 
only." " For as the body without the spirit is dead, 
so faith without works is dead also" (chapter ii. 26). 

The first epistle of Peter inculcates the need in peril- 
ous times of special patience under suffering and exhorts 
each one to attend carefully to his assigned duties. The 
second epistle is especially directed against false teach- 
ers and corrupters of the church. 

In the first of the three epistles attributed to the 
apostle John the literary form and subject-matter re- 
mind one of the fourth gospel. The epistle is written 
to show the reader that the Word is the word of life, 
and to unfold what it is to be children of God. The 
second and third epistles are more like ordinary letters. 
The first seems to be a general letter to a church, 
and the third a supplementary note to an influential 
individual. 

Jude is the last of the twenty-one e{)istles of the New 



142 The sphere of Religion 

Testament. It is an impassioned outburst against 
heretics and false teachers, and much resembles the 
second epistle of Peter. 

The last book of our New Testament is entitled The 
Revelation of St. John the Divine. It is properly 
called an apocalypse in that it attempts to explain the 
present dominion of evil in the world and to encourage 
the faithful by depicting the time when their prophetic 
hopes will be fulfilled and all evil shall be entirely 
overcome. By the use of visions and highly fantastic 
imagery, much of which is taken from the Old Testa- 
ment, it exhorts its readers to resist the allurements of 
the reigning evil powers and cleave to God. It begins 
with certain admonitions in the form of letters to the 
seven churches. It then predicts the judgments that 
are speedily to fall upon the malign spirits that now 
dominate the world, and concludes with an account of 
the final blessedness which will come to those that 
endure. 

It would be difl&cult to find any scholar in our day 
who would maintain that the different books of the 
New Testament were written in the order in which we 
now have them. On the contrary, it is generally 
agreed that most of the epistles were in existence long 
before the gospels, and that the gospels did not origin- 
ally appear in their present form or order. Jesus him- 
self left no writings and his early disciples probably 
did not at first see the need of any. 

When, however, Paul by his missionary journeys 
among the Gentiles had established various groups of 
believers over the then Roman world, many occasions 
arose for apostolic counsels that could be given only 
by letter. Hence arose the epistles, which are all of 
them occasional writings, though some of thern not 



The Christian Scriptures 143 

only give advice about the Christian life, but expound 
at considerable length the fundamental ideas upon 
which it is based. 

The first book in the New Testament to be written, 
it is now maintained by many scholars, was the epistle 
of James. It is a sort of encyclical letter addressed 
*' to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad," and 
probably appeared some time before 50 a.d. from the 
pen of James, the head of the mother church. There 
is no sign in the epistle that any attempts had yet been 
made to carry the gospel beyond distinctively Jewish 
circles. The controversy about the position of the 
Gentiles in the church which led to the Jerusalem 
council had not yet come up. The point of view of the 
writer was still that of the Old Testament doctrine of 
justification by works, the Pauline doctrine not yet 
having been developed. 

It is now generally admitted that after the epistle of 
James the oldest books of the New Testament are 
PauVs two letters to the Thessalonians, written chiefly 
to set aside their false expectations concerning the 
nearness of the return of Jesus. They were probably 
written at Corinth during a.d. 52 or 53. Then, accord- 
ing to most authorities, follow the doctrinal epistles, — 
Galatians, i and 2 Corinthians, and Romans; while 
the so-called epistles of the imprisonment — Colossians, 
Philemon, Ephesians, and Philippians — arc assigned to 
Paul's first Roman imprisonment during the years 62- 
63. The remaining pastoral epistles are supposed to 
have been written just before the apostle's martyrdom 
about 67 or 68. Some critics do not allow that Paul 
wrote all of the epistles ascribed to him above, and a 
few regard only the four doctrinal ones as genuinely 
his. 



144 T^f^^ Sphere of Religion 

Regarding the epistle to the Hebrews all scholars 
reject it as Pauline on the ground that its style, its 
language, and its mode of thought do not resemble 
anything else attributed to him. Who the author of 
Hebrews was is still unsettled. Of the remaining 
epistles the first epistle of Peter was probably written 
by him at Rome, it is held, between 50 and 55 a.d. 
But the second epistle is of doubtful genuineness, no 
distinct trace of its existence having come to light be- 
fore the time of Origen. The three epistles ascribed to 
the apostle John are generally regarded as his, though 
in each case there seems to be no way to fix their date, 
place of writing, or destination. 

Regarding the gospels it is now the general opinion 
of scholars that for at least a generation after the death 
of Jesus no attempt was made to commit to writing any 
of his sayings or deeds, so widespread and universal 
was the belief that his second coming and the end of 
the world were close at hand. But as time wore away 
and he did not return it became evident that some au- 
thentic account of what the apostles had seen and 
heard about Jesus should be made for the benefit of 
those who were to come after them. 

Specialists are now coming to recognize as the source 
of our present gospels of Matthew and I^uke, two re- 
latively primitive documents, — the gospel of Mark, or 
an early draft of it giving a simple account of the chief 
facts in the life of Jesus, and a document called 
*' logia " made up chiefly of his sayings and discourses. 
The logia or discourses, it is held, were written in 
Aramaic and probably by the apostle Matthew. About 
the same time Mark, who is commonly known as the 
interpreter of Peter, wrote out in Greek what he had 
heard Peter say in his addresses about the life and 



The Christian Scriptures 145 

work of Jesus, adding from other sources whatever he 
regarded as equally trustworthy. 

The first three gospels of our New Testament have 
so much in common that ever since the time of Gries- 
bach, who over a hundred years ago published the first 
critical edition of the New Testament, they have gen- 
erally been called the synoptic gospels. For they give 
the same general outline of the life of Jesus. As a rule 
they cite the same miracles and discourses and omit 
the same incidents. The order of events described is 
often the same, even when it is not chronological, 
and the language is also often identical. 

It is now practically the unanimous verdict of schol- 
ars that Mark's gospel is much the earliest and was 
probably in existence by 70 a.d. It is also equally 
agreed that the authors of the first and third gospels of 
our New Testament were familiar with Mark's gospel 
and freely used it. Our present gospel of Matthew is 
thus the product of an attempt to combine the logia of 
the apostle Matthew with the original Mark. It was 
written in the first instance for Jewish Christians to 
show how the religion of Jesus organically developed 
out of the Law and the Prophets, but its author was 
not an apostle or a companion of Jesus, otherwise 
we should not have such an artificial arrangement of 
the material, or .such a decided dependence upon pre- 
vious authorities. About its exact date there is still a 
division of opinion, some putting it a little before and 
some shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem in the 
year 70 a.d. 

When Rome, soon after this event, became one of 
the most important centres of Christianity the gosf)el 
of Mark, it is held, was rc-cditcd and somewhat en- 
larged to adapt it to the comprehension and needs of 



146 The Sphere of Religion 

the Gentile Christians and brought into its present 
form. The preface (i. 1-3) was probably then added 
and also xvi. 9-20. Other minor insertions and changes 
were probably made at the same time throughout its 
entire contents. 

Next the gospel of Luke is supposed to have ap- 
peared, possibly also in Rome, its author making use 
chiefly of the logia, the original Mark, and our Mat- 
thew, at the same time introducing other material both 
oral and written from sources now lost. Thus it is seen 
that each one of these writers made free use of what 
had been written by his predecessors and did not claim 
for himself or them any infallible authority. It is also 
clear that no one of these synoptic gospels, as we now 
have it, is the record of direct personal knowledge. 

The gospel of John is admittedly one of the most im- 
portant books of the whole New Testament. It is in 
many respects in striking contrast to the synoptic 
gospels already discussed. In place of genealogies the 
author puts a profound but brief statement regarding 
the incarnation of the eternal I^ogos. The earthly life 
of Jesus is laid by this waiter almost exclusively in 
Judea, while the synoptics put it chiefly in Galilee. 
The latter give the impression that the public work of 
Jesus did not extend much over a year, while the 
former mentions three and perhaps more passovers. 
The fourth gospel puts the cleansing of the temple at 
the beginning of Jesus' ministry, the synoptics at the 
close. The last supper is placed by the S3moptics on 
the evening of the passover itself, but this gospel puts 
it on the evening before. The gospel of John assumes 
that its readers are familiar with the other three and 
makes no mention of much that they record. Many 
of its characters are new and the same is true of its 



The Christian Scriptures 147 

scenes and localities. It introduces few miracles and 
chiefly those not referred to by the other gospels, such 
as the raising of Lazarus from the dead. John also 
makes their object difierent, — to show forth the super- 
human mission of Jesus, not to supply some pressing 
human need. 

The lengthy discourses in the fourth gospel which 
take up the larger part of the work are very different 
from the parables and practical exhortations recorded 
by the other three. Their style and matter are so 
unique that it is hard to separate what the author attri- 
butes to Jesus from what he supplies himself. Further- 
more, there is little or no room in the fourth gospel for 
the human development of Jesus. From the first he 
seems to be fully aware of his mission and so do his 
followers. The inwardness and spirituality of the re- 
ligious experience recorded in this gospel, and its con- 
ception of the eternal life and of the last things, differ 
remarkably from what is everywhere present in the 
synoptics. 

For these and other reasons a great controversy 
has been raging for nearly a century as to how^ the 
fourth gospel originated and what is its historical 
value. It is now generally maintained that in sub- 
stance, at least, it is the work of the apostle John and 
was written at Ephesus near the close of the first cen- 
tury, primarily for the Christian circles of that region. 
John had had a long time to reflect upon the incidents 
he had witnessed and the discourses he had heard. He 
had lived very close to the Master, had observed the 
origin and progress of the church for over half a century, 
had been well acquainted with Paul, and in his later 
years had been profoundly affected by the philos()])hical 
speculations ever^'where currt'iit in his adopted citw 



148 The Sphere of Religion 

His book was written to give his mature judgments 
concerning the mission of Jesus and in part to describe 
the growth of his own religious experience. He does 
not in all probability reproduce word for word the dis- 
courses of his Master, as he wishes at the same time to 
explain them and point out their eternal significance. 
**Being an apostle he did not need to be literal." Prob- 
ably he frequently modified the historical setting in 
order more fully to attain his purpose. Probably also 
the gospel originally ended at the close of chapter xx. 
The twenty-first chapter, written to correct a wrong 
impression concerning the meaning of the words of 
Jesus to Peter regarding John, may have been added 
shortly after the apostle's death, if not before it. 

Hitherto the book of Revelation has been considered 
a work so full of mystery as to be almost unintelligible 
except to a chosen few. Some have regarded its pro- 
phecies as referring to a time already past, some have 
taken the book, with the exception of the first three 
chapters, as having to do with events yet to come, and 
others have looked upon it as giving a symbolic history 
of the experience of the Christian church from the be- 
ginning to the end of time. It has usually been taken 
for granted that it was written by the apostle John 
when in exile on the island of Patmos just before the 
destruction of Jerusalem, and that he himself had only 
a dim consciousness of its significance. 

In our time the book is no longer considered either 
obscure or mysterious, but far more easily compre- 
hended, for the most part, than many things to be 
found in other portions of the New Testament. For it 
is now seen to have a strictly historical basis, and is 
interpreted solel}^ in the light of the circumstances sur- 
rounding its origin and the views entertained by the 



The Christian Scripticres 149 

people for whom it was written. It is placed side by 
side with a mass of similar literature that appeared in 
abundance among the Jewish people from at least the 
second century B.C. 

Scholars have now made it clear that for several 
centuries it was the universal expectation of the Jews 
that after one dreadful outburst of the hostile forces of 
earth and heaven, God would appear in the person of 
his Messiah and set up once for all his glorious king- 
dom. Whenever his people came to any crisis in their 
affairs owing to unusual persecutions or other distresses, 
an apocalypse would appear to revive their drooping 
spirits, strengthen their faith in God, and assure them 
of his final victory. Their apocalypses were written in 
riddles, because it was usually dangerous to be distinct, 
and because hiunan nature instinctivel}^ associates the 
mysterious with the divine. They were generally 
ascribed to some celebrated character of the past in 
order to attract attention to their contents. Such writ- 
ings attributed to Enoch, Moses, Ezra, Daniel, and 
others still exist. 

Scholars now hold that the book of Revelation like 
the book of Daniel was written at a time of great 
religious persecution, and that like Daniel its predic- 
tions are based upon existing conditions and concern 
the immediate future. The author of the book is still 
in the Old Testament stage of development regarding 
the world and the state, which he hates with all his 
heart. He has not yet risen to the New Testament 
idea of loving his enemies. Still he shows a firm faith 
in Jesus as the true Messiah and Saviour of his people. 
So permeated is he with the spirit of the prophets and 
psalms that he borrows most of his strange iinager>' 
from Ezekinl, Zechariah, and other Old Testament 



150 The Sphere of Religion 

writers who had adopted this peculiar mode of ex- 
pressing their thoughts. These considerations lead 
the scholars of our day to place the date of its com- 
position in the time of the Domitian persecutions, that 
is, about 95 or 96 a.d. This makes it the last book in 
point of time in the New Testament. Its author is 
now regarded as some unknown Jewish Christian not 
yet fully imbued with the spirit and teachings of the 
gospel. Its style and ideas are so far removed from 
the fourth gospel that few, if any, recent scholars can 
see in it the work of the profoundly philosophical and 
spiritually-minded apostle John. 

To the New Testament as a w^hole we are chiefly 
indebted for the two ideas which lie at the foundation 
of the highest conceivable form of religion — the father- 
hood of God and the brotherhood of man. No other 
book gives us such a revelation of the love of God for 
all his creatures and his unceasing interest in ever}^- 
thing that concerns their welfare. Jesus stands forth 
in it as the true interpreter of the universe, as the true 
revealer of the mind and heart of God. All that is 
noblest and best in our modern civilization and in our 
modern conception of religion we owe to his teachings 
and life. 

j. The Koran of Mohammed. — The bible of 
the Mohammedans is about the size of the New 
Testament and is called the Koran, a term derived 
from a w^ord meaning to chant or recite. It is the 
sacred book of more than a hundred millions of 
people, and according to a high authority *' is perhaps 
the most widely read book in the world. It is the text- 
book in all Mohammedan schools. All Moslems know 
large parts of it by heart. Devout Moslems read it 
through once a month. Portions of it are recited in 



The Koran of Mohammed 



i^i 



the five daily prayers, and the recitation of the whole 
book is a meritorious work frequently performed at 
solemn or festival anniversaries." The students of 
vScience and philosophy among the Arabians almost 
from the time the Koran was first published have had 
it for their sole mission to understand its precepts. 

The book consists of one hundred and fourteen chap- 
ters, or suras, and each chapter begins with a heading 
which states the title and almost always the place of 
revelation. Then comes the formula ** In the name of 
the most merciful God." The first chapter is often 
called the Lord's Prayer of the Moslems, and is uni- 
versally regarded as the gem of the whole book. It is 
entitled *'The Introduction ; Revealed at Mecca," and 
reads as follows : *' In the name of the most merciful 
God. Praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures ; tlie 
most merciful, the king of the day of judgment. Thee 
do we worship, and of thee do we beg assistance. Di- 
rect us in the right way, in the way of those to 
whom thou hast been gracious ; not of those against 
whom thou art incensed, nor of those w^ho go astray." 

There does not seem to be any other principle in the 
arrangement of the chapters than that of length. The 
longest chapter comes immediately after the introduc- 
tion and consists, in Sale's translation, which is here 
followed, of many (34) pages. The vShoricst chapter is 
the 1 12th, and contains less than two lines. Chapter 
second is the real beginning of the book and is entitled 
*• The Cow,'* probably from the story of the red heifer 
that occurs in it. The first part of this chapter is as 
follows: ** Revealed partly at Mecca and partly at 
Medina. In the name of the most merciful God .... 
A. ly. M. There is no doubt in this book ; it is a di- 
rection to the pious, who l)clicve in the mysteries of 



152 The Sphere of Religion 

faith, who observe the appointed times of prayer, and 
distribute alms out of what we have bestowed upon 
them ; and who believe in that revelation, which hath 
been sent down unto thee, and that which hath been 
sent down unto the prophets before thee,_and have firm 
assurance of the life to come ; these are directed by 
their lyord, and they shall prosper. As for the un- 
believers, it will be equal to them whether thou ad- 
monish them or do not admonish them ; they will not 
believe. God hath sealed up their hearts and their 
hearing ; a dimness covereth their sight, and they 
shall suffer a grievous punishment.'' 

The letters ''A. I,. M." have had many interpreta- 
tions. The most reasonable one seems to be that they 
stand for *'Amar li Mohammed,'' /. ^., *'at the com- 
mand of Mohammed." For it is universally admitted 
that the Koran is the work of Mohammed, and that he 
dictated it to an amanuensis. There is no evidence 
that he himself could either read or write. 

The Koran from first to last claims to be direct from 
God. Except in a few passages where Mohammed or 
an angel is represented as speaking, God is the speaker 
throughout, using sometimes the pronoun *'I," but 
generally the plural of majesty ' ' we. ' ' The Koran itself 
claims to be simply a copy, ''the original whereof is 
written in a table kept in heaven ' ' (last line of chapter 
85). It also states that the sacred book was ''sent 
down" by God "gradually by distinct parcels " in 
order that the faithful might be the better confirmed 
in their hearts thereby. It affirms that an angel, gen- 
erally called Gabriel, but sometimes the Holy Spirit, 
dictated the revelation to the Prophet, who committed 
it to memory and did not "forget any part thereof 
except what God shall please " (chapter 87). 



The Koran of Mohammed 153 

In chapter second is briefly stated the attitude of the 
Koran towards Jesus and Christians, and many re- 
ferences to the subject occur in other chapters. *' We 
follow the religion of Abraham the orthodox, who was 
no idolater. Say, We believe in God, and that w^hich 
hath been sent down to us, and that which hath been 
sent down unto Abraham, and Ismael, and Isaac, and 
Jacob, and the tribes, and that which was delivered 
unto Moses, and Jesus, and that which was delivered 
unto the prophets and their Lord. We make no dis- 
tinction between any of them and to God are we re- 
signed." Farther on in the chapter frequent prayer is 
enjoined, and each believer is exhorted to "turn, there- 
fore, thy face towards the holy temple of Mecca ; and 
wherever ye be, turn your faces towards that place." 
A pilgrimage to Mecca is also enjoined and the ab- 
staining from ''that which dieth of itself, and blood 
and swine's flesh and that upon which any other name 
but God's hath been invocated. But he who is forced 
by necessity, not lusting, nor returning to transgress, it 
shall be no crime in him if he eat of those things, for 
God is gracious and pierciful." In the middle of the 
chapter righteousness is described as follows : ** It is 
not righteousness that ye turn your faces in prayer 
towards the east and the west, but righteousness is of 
him who believeth in God and the last day, and the 
angels, and the scriptures, and the prophets ; who 
giveth money for God's sake unto his kindred, and 
unto orphans, and the needy, and the stranger, and 
those that ask, and for the redemption of captives ; who 
is constant at prayer, and giveth alms ; and of those 
who perform their covenant, when they have cove- 
nanted, and who behave themselves patiently in ad- 
versity, and hardships, and in time of violence ; these 



154 T^^ Sphere of Religion 

are they who are true and these are they who fear 
God." 

War is enjoined against the infidels when they ** ob- 
struct the way of God" or introduce false gods. For 
'* temptation to idolatry is more grievous than to kill." 
** When they will ask thee concerning wine and lots; 
answer, In both there is great sin, and also some 
things of use to men, but their sinfulness is greater 
than their use." 

After treating of many other legislative matters 
much after the fashion of the Pentateuch and with 
frequent reference to the stories and incidents recorded 
in it, the chapter closes with the prayer: *'0 Lord, 
lay not on us a burden like that which thou hast laid 
on those who have been before us ; neither make us, 
O Lord, to bear what we have not strength to bear, but 
be favorable unto us, and spare us, and be merciful 
unto us. Thou art our patron, help us therefore against 
the unbelieving nations." 

The third sura is entitled, *' The Family of Imram," 
which is the name given in the Koran to the father of 
the Virgin Mary, and like the second treats of a great 
variety of matters. The unity of God is constantly 
reiterated in it, also the value of the Koran as the book 
of truth, the blessedness of those who accept it, and 
the dreadful fate of those who do not. ''There is no 
God but God, the living, the self-subsisting. . . . 
O Lord, thou shall surely gather mankind together 
unto a day of resurrection ; there is no doubt of it, for 
God will not be contrary to the promise. As for the 
infidel, their wealth shall not profit them anything, nor 
their children, against God ; they shall be the fuel of 
hell fire. . . . For those who are devout are prepared 
with their Lord gardens through which rivers flow; 



The Koran of Mohammed i 



o:) 



therein shall they continue forever ; and they shall 
enjoy wives free from impurity, and the favor of God. 
Verily the true religion in the sight of God is Islam." 
A few pages of the chapter are devoted to matters con- 
cerning the Virgin, and what is said of her is taken for 
the most part from the various traditions of the Jews. 

Chapter four has for its title ' ' Women : Revealed 
at Medina,'' and chiefly treats of marriage, divorce, 
dower, the treatment of orphans, and the like. It be- 
gins, *'0 men, fear your I<ord, who hath created you 
out of one man, and out of him created his wife, and 
from them two hath multiplied many men and women ; 
and fear God by whom ye beseech one another ; and 
respect women who have borne you, and give the 
orphans when they have come to age their substance ; 
and render them not in exchange bad for good ; and 
devour not their substance by adding it to your own 
substance, for this is a great sin ; and if ye fear that ye 
shall not act with equity towards orphans of the female 
vSex, take in marriage such other women as please you, 
two, or three, or four, and no more. But if ye fear 
that ye cannot act equitably toward so many, marr>^ 
one only, or the slaves which ye shall have acquired. 
This will be easier, that ye swerve not from righteous- 
ness." The laws enjoined in this chapter concerning 
the treatment of women and orphans do not differ ma- 
terially from those of the Pentateuch, from which they 
are manifestly derived. 

The title of the fifth sura is ''The Table," which 
towards the end of the chapter is said to have been let 
down from heaven to Jesus. It is chiefly devoted to 
exhortations to follow the Koran. The law was suf- 
ficient, it is argued, until the coming of Jesus Christ, 
after which the gospel was the rule. Both are now set 



156 The Sphere of Religion 

aside by the Koran because in it they both come to 
their proper fulfilment. 

Turning to the middle chapters of the book we find 
that many of them consist only of a few pages and are 
devoted in a large degree to the defence of the author 
as an apostle of God. They also abound in fuller and 
more vivid descriptions of the rewards of the faithful 
and the fate of unbelievers. 

Take, for example chapter fifty-three, entitled ** The 
Star/' which opens as follows : ''By the star when it 
setteth ; your companion Mohammed erreth not ; nor 
is led astray ; neither doth he speak of his own will. 
It is no other than a revelation which hath been re- 
vealed unto him. One mighty in power, endued with 
understanding, taught it him ; and he appeared in 
the highest part of the horizon. Afterwards he ap- 
proached the prophet and came near unto him ; until 
he was at the distance of two bows' length from him, or 
yet nearer ; and he revealed unto his servant that which 
he revealed. The heart of Mohammed did not falsely 
represent that which he saw." 

Chapter fifty-four is entitled ''The Moon,'' and be- 
gins : "The hour of judgment approaches ; and the 
moon hath been split in sunder ; but if the unbelievers 
see a sign, they turn aside saying, This is a powerful 
charm, and they accuse thee, O Mohammed, of impos- 
ture, and follow their own lusts ; but everything will 
be immutably fixed." 

" The Inevitable " is the title of the fifty-sixth sura, 
which starts out with a vivid description of the last 
judgment and of the final destiny of the faithful and 
the unfaithful. '^ When the inevitable day of judg- 
ment shall suddenly come, no soul shall charge the pre- 
diction of its coming with falsehood : it will abase some 



The Koran of Mohammed 1 5 7 

and exalt others, when the earth shall be shaken with 
a violent shock ; and the mountains shall be dashed in 
pieces, and shall become as dust scattered abroad ; and 
ye shall be separated into three distinct classes : the 
companions of the right hand (how happy shall the 
companions of the right hand be ! ); and the companions 
of the left hand (how miserable shall the companions 
of the left hand be ! ) ; and those who have preceded 
others in the faith shall precede them to paradise. 
These are they who shall approach near unto God : 
they shall dwell in gardens of delight : (There shall be 
many of the former religions ; but few of the last.) Re- 
posing on couches adorned with gold and precious 
stones ; sitting opposite to one another thereon. Youths 
which shall continue in their bloom forever shall go 
round about to attend them, with goblets, and beakers, 
and a cup of flowing wine ; their heads shall not ache 
by drinking the same, neither shall their reason be dis- 
turbed ; and with fruits of the sorts which they shall 
choose, and the flesh of birds of the kind which they 
shall desire. And there shall accompany them fair 
damsels having large black eyes ; resembling pearls 
hidden in their shells ; as a reward for that which they 
shall have wrought. They shall not hear therein any 
vain discourse, or any charge of sin ; but only the 
salutation, Peace ! Peace ! . . . And the com- 
panions of the left hand (how miserable shall the 
companions of the left hand be !) shall dwell amidst 
burning winds and scalding water, under the shade of 
a black smoke. . . . Ye, O men, who have erred 
and denied the resurrection as a falsehood, shall .surely 
eat of the fruit of the tree al Zakkuin and shall fill 
your bellies therewith ; and ye shall drink thereon 
boiling water ; and ye .shall drink as a thirsty camel 



1 58 The Sphere of Religion 

drinketh. This shall be their entertainment on the 
day of judgment/' 

In the fifty-seventh chapter special rewards are 
promised to those * ' who shall have contributed and 
fought in defence of the faith before the taking of 
Mecca. . . . These shall be superior in degree 
unto those who shall contribute and fight for the 
propagation of the faith after the above mentioned 
success. * ' 

Several chapters are then devoted to the treatment 
of women by their husbands; and some of the petty dis- 
agreements of Mohammed with his own wives, God 
is represented as discussing at length, giving to the 
prophet a dispensation from the law imposed on other 
Moslems, especially in regard to the number of his 
wives and his treatment of them. 

Farther on we come upon suras that are decidedly 
rhapsodic in character, abounding in strong emotion, 
indicating a high degree of religious excitement. Sura 
seventy-four begins, ** O thou covered, arise and preach 
and magnify the lyOrd, and cleanse thy garments ; and 
fly every abomination ; and be not liberal in hopes to 
receive more in return ; and patiently wait for thy 
lyord. When the trumpet shall sound, verily that day 
shall be a day of distress and uneasiness unto the 
unbelievers. ... I will afflict hini (the unbeliever) 
with grievous calamities : for he hath devised and 
prepared contumelious expressions to ridicule the 
Koran. May he be cursed : how maliciously hath he 
prepared the same! and again, may he be cursed/' 

The following is the conclusion of the eighty-first 
sura: "Verily, I swear by the stars which are retro- 
grade, which move swiftly, and which hide themselves; 
and by the night when it cometh on ; and by the 



The Koran of Moha7n7ned 159 

morning when it appeareth ; that these are the words 
of an honorable messenger, endued with strength, of 
established dignity in the sight of the possessor of the 
throne, obeyed by the angels under his authority and 
faithful ; and your companion Mohammed is not dis- 
tracted. He hath already seen him in the clear horizon : 
he hath suspected not the secrets revealed unto him. 
Neither are these the words of an accursed devil. 
Whither, therefore, are you going ? This is no other 
than an admonition unto all creatures ; unto him among 
you who shall be willing to walk uprightly ; but ye 
shall not will, unless God willeth, the Lord of all 
creatures/' 

The fourth from the last sura is a curse upon the 
uncle of Mohammed, who opposed the establishment 
of the new religion to the utmost of his power. * ' The 
hands of Abu Laheb shall perish and he shall perish. 
His riches shall not profit him, neither that which he 
hath gained. He shall go down to be burned into 
flaming fire ; and his wife also, bearing wood, having on 
her neck a cord of twisted fibres of a palm-tree" [as 
fuel for hell.] 

The third from the last sura is the shortest in the 
Koran, and is held in particular veneration by Moham- 
medans. It is said to be equal in value to a third part 
of the whole Koran. " vSay, God is one God; the 
eternal God : he begetteth not and neither is he be- 
gotten : and there is not any one like unto him." 

Chapters one hundred and thirteen and one hundred 
and fourteen, the last two, are reganled by Moslems 
with peculiar favor. " They consider them," saysSav- 
ary, '* as a sovereign specific against magic, hina influ- 
ences, and the temptations of the evil spirit. They never 
fail to repeat them evening and morning." 



1 6 o The Sphere of Religion 

The one hundred and thirteenth chapter runs as 
follows : '*Say, I fly for refuge unto the Lord of the 
daybreak, that he may deliver me from the mischief 
of those things which he hath created ; and from the 
mischief of the night when it cometh on ; and from 
the mischief of women blowing on knots ; and from the 
mischief of the envious, when he envieth." And the 
last chapter of the book is, *' Say, I fly for refuge unto 
the Lord of men ; the king of men ; the God of men, that 
he may deliver me from the mischief of the whisperer 
who slyly withdraweth, who whispereth evil sugges- 
tions into the breasts of man ; from genii and men." 

From this general survey of the Koran it is easy to 
see why scholars are agreed in dividing the suras into 
three general classes, according as their contents 
relate to the history and condition of the author, 
namely, those delivered during the early part of Mo- 
hammed's preaching in Mecca, including those from 
about the seventy-third chapter to the close of the 
book ; the middle chapters, which were in all prob- 
ability delivered during the latter part of his sojourn 
in Mecca ; and the first part of the book, where the 
chapters are probably composite in their character, 
made up of a number of smaller discourses delivered 
during the later years of his life at Medina. 

Mohammed began his career as a prophet in his 
fortieth year, and continued to send forth his revela- 
tions for over twenty years. It is maintained by many 
of his followers that the earliest sura is the first part of 
the ninety-sixth, which begins with the words, '' Read 
[from the scroll let down by the angel] in the name of 
thy Lord, who hath created all things/' Others ascribe 
that honor to the seventy-fourth, the opening verses of 
which have already been quoted. 



The Koran of Mohammed i6i 

Mohammed at the outset did not make any effort to 
have his utterances preserved. Only after he had 
become a famous leader in the community did he begin 
to think about putting his revelations into a permanent 
form. The entire Koran is so completely the product 
of Mohammed's personal experiences that it cannot be 
properly understood without taking into consideration 
some of the chief events in the history of his life. 

All authorities are agreed that he first appeared in 
Mecca as a prophet about 6io a.d. According to the 
best traditions he was born in 570, at Mecca, of very 
poor, but worthy parents, his father belonging to the 
most powerful of the Arabian tribes of that day, the 
Koreish, to w^hom was entrusted as a matter of heredity 
the guardianship of the Kaaba. This sacred cube-shaped 
heathen temple contained the famous black stone said 
to have been given by an angel to Abraham, and was 
the centre of native religious rites. Mohammed' s father 
died two months before his birth and his mother, for 
whom he always had the greatest veneration, six years 
after. Being adopted by his uncle, who was a man of 
large family with scanty means, he spent his early 
years in tending sheep, gathering wild berries in the 
desert, and driving camels. On one occasion he went 
with his uncle on a trading expedition into Syria, and 
there met a monk whose discourses greatly influenced 
his subsequent career. When about twenty-five years 
of age, having won by the integrity of his conduct the 
surname of 'Hhe faithful," on the recommendation of his 
uncle he became the business agent of a wealthy widow 
of Mecca, for whom he made several successful com- 
mercial journeys* to the countries round about. In a 
few years he married the widow and proved himself a 
devoted and faithful husband. Seven children resulted 



1 62 The Sphere of Religion 

from this marriage, but his three sons died while very 
young. 

Relieved by his marriage to Khadija from the neces- 
sity of constant toil, Mohammed was able to devote his 
time to the development of his religious sentiments, 
which had always had a predominating influence over 
his conduct and thoughts. Every year he retired for 
long periods to the fastnesses of Mount Hira, near 
Mecca, and gave himself up to solitary meditation and 
prayer. 

It is no longer claimed by any well-informed scholars 
that Mohammed independently produced the ideas and 
doctrines of the Koran. A generation at least before 
his time the Jews had become numerous in and around 
Medina. Indeed, the whole northern part of the 
Arabian peninsula began to be dotted over with Jewish 
colonists soon after the destruction of Jerusalem. Be- 
tween them and the natives there had always existed a 
perfectly free intercourse. Beyond any doubt Moham- 
med derived nearly all of the stories and a great part 
of the laws of the Koran from Jewish sources. Chris- 
tianity, though in a crude and degenerate form, had 
already penetrated Arabia through Syria and Abys- 
sinia, and he had at least a partial acquaintance with 
it. The native religion in which he was brought up 
had long recognized Allah as the highest and universal 
deity. 

According to all authorities, when Mohammed came 
upon the scene the religious life of Arabia had reached 
a most deplorable state. Star-worship of every variety 
made up the religion of the masses, but even this 
form of religion had ceased to be regarded as of any 
vital moment. Wine-drinking, petty gambling, sensual 
love, extortion, and robbery absorbed the time and 



The Koran of Mohammed 163 

energies of the people. The status of the great ma- 
jority of women was little above that of common pros- 
titutes. Polygamy, as everywhere in the Orient, was 
the prevailing custom and many Arabs had no less 
than eight or ten wives, which they could at any time 
throw out into the street without food or protection, 
entirely at their option. The habit among the Bedou- 
ins of selling their new-born daughters was a gen- 
eral one, and went on generation after generation 
unrebuked. 

A few devout souls here and there, however, were 
not satisfied with this state of affairs, and Mohammed 
was one of them. He saw the need of a new religious 
awakening, and by uniting the three principal religions 
of his time and country he thought he could produce 
it. This idea is now considered the key to the Koran. 
Everywhere in it the Pentateuch and the Psalms are 
recognized as sacred revelations and so are also the 
Gospels. Moses and Christ are frequently declared to 
be genuine prophets. Resignation to the will of Allah, 
the all-wise and almighty, the chief god of his own 
tribe and people, is the one supreme duty of man. 

Judaism, ChrivStianity, and heathenism all contained 
for Mohammed important God-given truths. In the 
Koran he is constantly striving to win over the ad- 
herents of each, or else is rebuking them for the 
non-recognition of his mission. That Mohammed 
thoroughly believed in himself, at least in the fust 
years of his mission, is no longer questioned. At the 
outset he was probably only one among a number of 
ascetics seeking their own salvation rather than that 
of others. But being possessed of a natural tempera- 
ment that strongly addicted him to religious excite- 
ment, when what he regarded as direct revelation from 



164 The Sphere of Religion 

God came to him in his ecstatic visions, he was obliged 
to burst forth upon the community as a prophet. 

Although his wife at once accepted his alleged reve- 
lations, when he announced to her that the angel 
Gabriel had appeared to him in the mountain and 
commanded him to proclaim the name of Allah, most 
of his relatives scornfully rejected them. For four 
years he preached in secret to slaves and people of 
the lowest rank, gaining only a mere handful of fol- 
lowers. Then the call came to go forward and publicly 
to assail the superstitions of the Meccans. This he did 
without fear or favor, exhorting them to turn from 
their idols and their sensuality and worship the only 
real and true God. The result was that he was obliged 
to flee from Mecca to Medina to escape assassination. 
This occurred in 622, and is known as the Hegira, 
from which all Moslems now reckon time. 

The suras of this first period breathe a genuine 
religious spirit. The great fundamental ideas of the 
unity of God and the duty of prayer and almsgiving 
were constantly insisted upon as the vital things for 
this life and the life to come. But when once estab- 
lished in Medina, the consciousness of power and the 
rapid advance of the new form of religion under his 
leadership made him willing to maintain himself by 
strategy and force and at any cost. 

It must be admitted that he was at times deceitful, 
cunning, and revengeful. In one respect, at least, he 
used his authority as a prophet to make provision for 
the flesh, excepting himself from the restrictions re- 
garding women that were imposed upon others, as the 
Koran explicitly states. In common with his age he 
believed in signs and omens, and had many other super- 
stitious beliefs. Yet in general we may say that, 



Joseph Smitlis Book of Mormon 165 

judged by the standards of his time, the cause of re- 
hgion has had few more earnest or sincere devotees. 
The Koran will always stand as a fitting monument to 
one of the world's master spirits. 

k. Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon.— In the 
year 1830 there was published at Palmyra, a little 
village in what was then called the Wilderness of 
Western New York, the first edition of a bible which 
has since reached a circulation, it is asserted, of several 
millions, and has been printed in nearly all the leading 
languages of our time. For many years missionaries 
have been sent to all parts of the civilized world to 
spread abroad a knowledge of its contents, and they 
never were so active or so numerous as at present. 

The book is about the size of the New Testament, 
and purports to be **The Sacred History of Ancient 
America from the Earliest Ages After the Flood to the 
Beginning of the Fifth Century of the Christian Era.*' 
The title of the volume is " The Book of Mormon ; an 
account written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates 
taken from the Plates of Nephi." The title-page of the 
first edition also bore the inscription, ''Joseph Smith, 
Jun., Author and Proprietor," but in all subsequent 
editions this has been changed to, " Translated by 
Joseph Smith, Jun." 

/Immediately after the title-page comes the following 
affidavit, signed by Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, 
and Martin Harris: "Be it known unto all nations, 
kindreds, tongues, and people unto whom this work 
shall come, that we, through the grace of God the 
1^'ather, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the 
plates which contain this record, which is a record 
of the people of Ne])hi, and also of the Lamaiiites. 
their brethren, and also of the people of JarLil. who 



1 66 The Sphere of Religion 

came from the tower of which hath been spoken ; and 
we also know that the}" have been translated by the 
gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it 
unto us ; wherefore we know of a surety that the work 
is true. And we also testify that we have seen the 
engravings which are upon the plates ; and they have 
been shown unto us by the power of God, and not 
man. And we declare with words of soberness, that 
an angel of God came down from heaven, and he 
brought and laid before our e^^es, that we beheld and 
saw the plates, and the engravings thereon ; and we 
know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and 
our lyOrd Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record 
that these things are true ; and it is marvellous in our 
eyes, nevertheless the voice of the Lord commanded us 
that we should bear record of it ; wherefore to be obe- 
dient unto the commandments of God, we bear testi- 
mony of these things. And we know that if we are 
faithful to Christ, we shall rid oiu: garments of the 
blood of all men, and be found spotless before the 
judgment-seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him 
eternally in the heavens. And the honor be to the 
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which 
is one God. Amen.'* 

Attached to this affidavit is another, introduced b}^ 
the use of the same phraseology, signed b}" four mem- 
bers of the Whitmer family, the father and two brothers 
of Joseph Smith, Jun., the translator of the work, and 
Hiram Page, son-in-law of Peter Whitmer, Sen., in 
which they bear witness that *'we have seen and 
hefted, and know of a surety that the said Smith has 
got the plates of which we have spoken." 

Joseph Smith, Jun., himself thus summarized the 
contents of the book : ' ' The histor}" of America is un- 



Joseph SmitJis Book of Mor7no7i 167 

folded from its first settlement by a colony that came 
from the Tower of Babel to the beginning of the fifth 
century of the Christian Era. We are informed by 
these records that America, in ancient times, has been 
inhabited by two distinct races of people. The first 
were called Jaredites, and came directly from the Tower 
of Babel. The second race came directly from the city 
of Jerusalem, about six hundred years before Christ. 
The Jaredites were destroyed about the time that the 
Israelites came from Jerusalem. The principal nation 
of the second race fell in battle toward the close of the 
fourth century. The remnant are the Indians. 

*' This book also tells us that our Saviour made his 
appearance upon this continent after his resurrection ; 
that he planted the gospel here in all its fulness and 
richness and power and blessing ; that they had apos- 
tles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists ; the 
same order, the same priesthood, the same ordinances, 
gifts, powers, and blessing, as were enjoyed on the 
Eastern Continent ; that the people were cut off in 
consequence of their transgressions ; that the last of 
their prophets who existed among them was com- 
manded to write an abridgment of their prophecies, 
history, etc., and to hide it up in the earth." 

This so-called Bible of the Western Continent con- 
sists of fifteen books, and claims to have been written by 
authors who were divinely appointed to rule over the 
people of their day, and to make a record of their 
doings upon metallic plates prepared for the purpose. 
The l)ooks vary greatly in size. The book of Alma in 
recent editions of the work is divided into sixty-three 
chapters, and covers nearly a hundred pages ; while 
the book of Enos has only one chapter, and covers 
a little over two pages. 



1 68 The Sphere of Religion 

The first book in the volume is entitled ' ' The First 
Book of Nephi, His Reign and Ministry/' and has 
twenty-two chapters. The text is preceded by the fol- 
lowing synopsis : ^ ' An account of Lehi and his wife, 
Sariah, and his four sons, being called (beginning at 
the eldest) Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. The 
lyord warns I^ehi to depart out of the land of Jeru- 
salem, because he prophesieth unto the people concern- 
ing their iniquity ; and they seek to destroy his life. 
He taketh three days' journey into the wilderness w4th 
his family. Nephi taketh his brethren and returns to 
the land of Jerusalem after the record of the Jews. 
The account of their sufferings. They take the daugh- 
ters of Ishmael to wife. They take their families and 
depart into the wilderness. Their sufferings and afflic- 
tions in the wilderness. The course of their travels. 
They come to the large waters. Nephi' s brethren re- 
belleth against him. He confoundeth them and build- 
eth a ship. They call the name of the place Bountiful. 
They cross the large waters into the promised land, 
etc. This is according to the account of Nephi ; or in 
other words, I, Nephi, wrote this record.^' 

*' The large waters '' referred to are the Red Sea and 
the Pacific Ocean. ** The promised land " is the west- 
ern coast of South America. 

The very first passages of the first chapter of this 
book well illustrate the style of all the books, and, ex- 
cept where the ideas of the Old and New Testaments 
are made use of, the general nature of their contents : 
** I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, there- 
fore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my 
father ; and having seen many afflictions in the course 
of my days — nevertheless, having been highly favored 
of the I/Ord in all my days ; yea, having had a great 



Joseph SmitJis Book of Mormo7i 169 

knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, 
therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my 
days ; yea, I make a record in the language of my 
father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and 
the language of the Egyptians. And I know that the 
record that I make is true ; and I make it with mine 
own hand ; and I make it according to my knowledge. 

" For it came to pass, in the commencement of the 
first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah (my 
father Lehi having dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days), 
and in that same year there came many prophets, 
prophesying unto the people, that they must repent, 
or the great city of Jerusalem must be destroyed. 
Wherefore, it came to pass that my father Lehi, as he 
went forth, prayed unto the Lord, yea, even with all his 
heart, in behalf of his people. 

*' And it came to pass, as he prayed unto the Lord, 
there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before 
him ; and he saw and heard much ; and because of the 
things which he saw and heard, he did quake and 
tremble exceedingly. 

" And it came to pass that he returned to his own 
house at Jerusalem ; and he cast himself upon his bed, 
being overcome with the spirit and the things which 
he had seen ; and being thus overcome with the spirit, 
he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the 
heaven open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon 
his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses c^f 
angels in the attitude of singing and praising God. 

*' And it came to pass that he saw one descending 
out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that bis 
lustre was above that of the sun at noonday ; and he 
also saw twelve others following him, and their bright- 
ness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament ; and 



1 70 The Sphere of Religion 

they came down and went forth upon the face of the 
earth ; and the first came and stood before my father, 
and he gave him a book, and bade him that he should 
read. 

** And it came to pass, that, as he read, he was filled 
with the spirit of the I^ord, and he read saying, Wo, 
wo unto Jerusalem ! for I have seen thy abominations, ' ' 
etc. 

In chapter ii. we have a description of several ap- 
pearances of the Virgin Mary to Nephi. He also saw, 
he afiirms, ' * the Redeemer of the world, of whom my 
father had spoken ; and I also beheld the prophet w^ho 
should prepare the way before him. And the I^amb of 
God went forth and was baptized of him ; and after he 
was baptized, I beheld the heavens open, and the Holy 
Ghost came down out of heaven and abode upon him 
in the form of a dove." Many other events in the life 
of Jesus are here referred to including the crucifixion. 

Chapter xiii. opens with a covert attack upon the 
Church of Rome. ^ ^ And it came to pass that I saw 
among the nations of the Gentiles the foundation of a 
great church. And the angel said unto me, Behold 
the foundation of a church, which is most abominable 
above all other churches, which slayeth the saints of 
God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth down and 
yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them 
down into captivity. And it came to pass that I beheld 
this great and abominable church ; and I saw the devil 
that he was the foundation of it. And I also saw gold, 
and silver, and silks, and scarlets, and fine-twined 
linen, and all manner of precious clothing ; and I saw 
many harlots. 

" And the angel spake unto me, saying, Behold the 
gold, and silver, and the silks, and the scarlets, and 



Joseph SmitJis Book of Mormon 171 

the fine-twined linen, and the precious clothing, and the 
harlots, and the desires of this great and abominable 
church," etc. 

Many other chapters contain tirades on the 
same theme and, for the most part, the language of 
the book of Revelation is employed to express them. 
These views regarding the Roman Catholic Church 
were commonly held at the time of the appearance of 
the Book of Mormon throughout the region of Western 
New York. 

At the close of chapter xviii. Nephi describes the 
mutiny that occurred on the ship as they were crossing 
*' the large waters." For his brothers bound him and 
purposed to throw him overboard. But when they 
found that in the tempest that arose they could not 
steer the ship without him, they loosed him and 
allowed him again to assume command. 

''I took the compass" he says, *'and it did work 
whither I desired it. And it came to pass that I prayed 
unto the I^ord ; and after I had prayed, the winds did 
cease, and the storm did cease, and there was a great 
calm. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did guide 
the ship, that we sailed again towards the promised 
land. And it came to pass that after we had sailed for 
the space of many days, we did arrive to the promised 
land, and we went forth upon the land, and did pitch 
our tents ; and we did call it the promised land." 

Then follows a vivid description of the marvellous 
plenty of the country. Cows and oxen and horses ex- 
isted there in great abundance. ** And we did find all 
manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of cop- 
per." Out of the ore plates were made which ui>on 
was engraved the record ot the people, in particular 
the visions and j^rophecies of Nephi. The rest of this 



172 The Sphere of Religion 

first book of Nephi is taken up with an account of 
what was put upon these plates. The principal part 
of it consists of literal extracts from the prophecy of 
Isaiah as recorded in the Old Testament, though no 
acknowledgment is made of this fact. 

The second book of Nephi is much like the first in 
subject-matter. Leaving out the visions and prophecies 
in it, w^e have an account of the death of lychi, of the 
rebellion of Nephi' s brethren against him, the warn- 
ings of the lyord to Nephi to depart into the wilder- 
ness, and his various experiences after getting there. 
The creation of the world and the fall of Adam as we 
have it in Genesis is described in the second chapter. 

The book of Jacob comes next. This was written 
by a younger brother of Nephi. For lychi had two 
sons, Jacob and Joseph, born to him just before the 
family embarked upon the ship to cross *'the large 
waters '' for the promised land. Both these sons grew 
up to be ** prophets and priests unto God," and it was 
through this Joseph that a ' ' righteous branch ' ' was 
preserved from the Joseph of Egypt to Joseph Smith, 
Jun., the translator of the Book of Mormon and the 
divinely appointed head of the Church of Christ in 
modern times. Jacob succeeded to the rule after the 
death of Nephi and added his own plates to those of 
Nephi. 

The book of Jacob abounds in vigorous denuncia- 
tion, not only of pride and vainglory, but especially of 
polygamy. A ''sore curse even unto destruction'' is 
called down upon all who practise it. '' Behold David 
and Solomon," it says, ''truly had many wives and 
concubines, which thing was abominable before me, 
saith the lyOrd ; wherefore, thus saith the I^ord, I have 
led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by 



Joseph Smitlis Book of Mormon 173 

the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me 
a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph. 
Wherefore, I, the Lord God, will not suffer that this 
people shall do like unto them of old. Wherefore my 
brethren, hear me, and harken to the word of the 
Lord ; for there shall not any man among you have 
save it be one wife ; and concubines he shall have 
none ; for, I, the Lord God, delighteth in the chastity 
of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before 
me ; thus saith the Lord of Hosts. Wherefore, this 
people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord 
of Hosts ; or cursed be the land for their sakes. ' * The 
same views are expressed in the book of Mosiah and 
in the book of Ether. 

Jacob, when he comes to die, hands over the plates 
to his son Enos, who writes the next book. In it he 
tells us of the wrestles he had with God before he re- 
ceived a remission of his sins. Then he describes his 
own efforts and those of his people to bring the wicked 
followers of his uncle Laman, who had already had 
their white skins changed to copper-red because of 
their sins, back to the true faith. 

** But," he says, **our labors were vain; their 
hatred was fixed, and they were led by their evil na- 
ture that they became wild, and ferocious, and a blood- 
thirsty people ; full of idolatry and filthiness, feeding 
upon beasts of prey ; dwelling in tents, and wandering 
about in the wilderness with a short skin girdle about 
their loins and their heads shaven ; and their skill was 
in their bow, and in the cimeter, and the axe. And 
many of them did eat nothing save it was raw meat ; 
and they were continually seeking to destroy us." 
Here we have a very matter-of-fact description of the 
Indians of Western New York in the days of Joseph 



1 74 The Sphere of Religi07i 

Smitlu Many references to their life and habits occur 
in other parts of the work. 

The book of Anini tells us how the Xephites came 
to discover the people of Zarahemla. who '' came out of 
Jemsalem at the time that Zedekiah, King of Jndali, 
was carried awa}- captive into Babylon." They cast 
their lot with the followers of Xephi under the rule of 
King Mosiah. From the engravings on a large stone 
fotmd in Zarahemla it is discovered that the land had 
once been occupied b3' one Carlantumr whose *' first 
parents came out from the tower at the time the Lord 
confounded the languages of the people." Owing to 
his disobedience of the commandments of the I/)rd and 
the wickedness of his people, they had all been cut oflF 
'' and their bones lay scattered in the land northward." 
This was a common view in Western New York of the 
origin of the many mounds containing human relics to 
be found in that part of the country'. 

The book of Alma, the longest in this bible, devotes 
itself chiefly to the secular affairs of the people. Great 
battles and massacres are described in it. The coming 
of Christ is predicted, but this is opposed by one 
Korihor, who uses arguments that were probably taken 
from Thomas Paine' s Age of Reason, The result is 
that he is struck dumb for his blasphemy. 

Near the middle of the book we have several exhorta- 
tions to repentance which show how familiar the writer 
was with the methods of the old-time Methodist camp- 
meeting. Amulek, the last speaker at such a gather- 
ing, closes his harangue as follows : '' Therefore may 
God grant unto 3'ou, my brethren, that ye may begin 
to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye b^n to 
call upon His holy name, that He would have mercy 
upon you ; 3'ea, cry unto Him for mercy ; for He is 



Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon 175 

mighty to save ; yea, humble yourselves, and continue 
in prayer unto Him ; cry unto Him when you are in 
your fields ; yea, over all your flocks ; cry unto Him 
in your houses, yea, over all your household, both 
morning, midday, and evening; yea, cry unto Him 
against the power of your enemies ; yea, cry unto Him 
against the Devil, who is an enemy to all righteous- 
ness. And now as I said unto you before, as ye have 
had so many witnesses, therefore I beseech of you, 
that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance 
until the end ; for after this day of life, which is given 
unto us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not 
improve our time while in this life, then cometh the 
night of darkness, w^herein there can be no labor per- 
formed. Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that 
awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my 
God. Nay, ye cannot say this ; for that same spirit 
which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go 
out of life, that same spirit will have power to possess 
your body in that eternal world.'* 

In the book of Helaman we have the first of the 
attacks upon Free Masonry to be found in the Book of 
Mormon. It expresses the strong antipathy to the 
organization that prevailed in Western New York at 
the time the book appeared, owing to the abduction 
and alleged murder in 1826 of one William Morgan, 
a mechanic of Batavia, by some of the Masonic frater- 
nity. The reavSon for the act, it was alleged, was the 
fact that Morgan was preparing a book to divulge the 
secrets of the order. 

The book of Nephi III., besides giving an account of 
the secular events of this reign, describes the wonderful 
phenomena that acronipaiiicd the birth of Christ ami 
his visit to the Nephites after the Resurrection. He 



176 The Sphere of Religion 

not only preached to them the Sermon on the Mount, but 
also many of his other discourses recorded in the 
gospels. He broke bread among them and performed 
many of the same miracles that are described at length 
in the New Testament. He chose twelve apostles, 
who taught the multitude and carried on the work of 
spreading the gospel. Things proceeded in the same 
manner as the New Testament records show they did 
in Palestine. 

In the book of Mormon, one of the last books in this 
volume, and the one that gives name to the entire col- 
lection, we are told how in the year 384 A.D., just 
before a great battle in the land of Cumorah, in which 
an army of 230,000 Nephites was slain and the race 
practically annihilated, *' I [Mormon] made this record 
out of the plates of Nephi and hid up in the hill of 
Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to 
me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these few 
plates which I gave to my son Moroni." It was these 
golden plates that Joseph Smith alleges he, on Septem- 
ber 22, 1827, under the direction of an angel, dug up 
on the top of what is now known as Mormon Hill, in 
the township of Manchester, N. Y. , about four miles 
from the village of Palmyra. 

The plates, as he describes them, were about eight 
inches long and seven wide, and were connected to- 
gether by rings so as to form a volume about six inches 
thick. Hieroglyphic characters in an unknown lan- 
guage, which Smith declared to be Reformed Egyp- 
tian, covered both sides of the plates. By the aid of 
two stones, joined together into a sort of spectacles, 
which he found in the box, and called Urim and 
Thummim, he affirms that he was able to decipher 
the record on the plates and translate it into English. 



Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon 177 

This was taken down by an amanuensis, and makes 
the present text of the Book of Mormon. 

Smith tells us that '* multitudes" tried to get the 
plates away from him, but he held on to them. As 
fast as he translated them he handed them back to the 
angel, who keeps them in a box with other plates that 
have not yet been unsealed. 

The 22d of September, 1827, was not, according to 
Smith, the first time that he had known of the existence 
of these plates. In his autobiography published in the 
Millennial Star 2X Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1838, he affirms 
that on the night of September 21, 1823, while he was 
praying to God for the forgiveness of his sins, his room 
suddenly became illuminated with a great light. A 
person clothed in a robe of exquisite whiteness called 
him by name and announced himself to be a messenger 
sent from God. Then, as Smith describes it, the angel 
told him where there was a book deposited, written upon 
golden plates, giving an account of the former inhabi- 
tants of this continent and the source from whence 
they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the 
Everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered 
by the Saviour to the ancient inhabitants. During the 
same vision the angel described to him the ' ' two stones 
in a silver bow " that were deposited with the plates, the 
possession of which ** constituted seers" in ancient 
times. By the use of these stones God would enable 
him to read what was engraved upon the plates and 
translate it into English. 

Under the direction of the angel he went at once to 
the hill and found the big stone in the hollow of which 
the plates were concealed. But he made no effort to 
gain possession of tliem as the angel informed him thai 
the time for bringing tlRin out had not yet arrived, 



178 The Sphere of Religion 

neither would till four years from that time. But he 
was told to come every year to the spot ' * until the time 
should come for obtaining the plates. ' ' 

Joseph Smith's father soon after the publication of 
the Book of Mormon gave out a vivid description of the 
way in which the plates were finally procured and the 
account was confirmed by his mother in her Biographi- 
cal Sketches of Joseph Smith and his Progenitors, pub- 
lished some years later. The father says in this 
description that ' * He [Joseph] procured a horse and 
light wagon with a chest and pillow case, and pro- 
ceeded punctually with his wife to find the hidden 
treasure. When they had gone as far as they could 
with the wagon, Joseph took the pillow case and started 
for the rock. Upon passing a fence a host of devils 
began to screech and scream, and make all sorts of 
hideous yells, for the purpose of terrifying him and 
preventing the attainment of his object ; but Joseph 
was courageous and pursued his way in spite of 
them.'' 

On arriving at the rock, *' with the aid of superhuman 
power ' ' he pried up the lid and secured the first or upper- 
most article, '* putting it carefully into the pillow case 
before laying it down." Immediately the lid fell back 
into its original position and an angel warned him not 
to seek for anything more at the present time. He was 
also warned not to allow any one to touch the article he 
had ' ' for if they did, they would be knocked down by 
some superhuman power." On getting back to the 
fence Joseph was met by another host of devils who 
yelled and shrieked much louder than the former, and 
one of them struck him a blow on the side ** where a 
black and blue spot remained three or four days." 
When Joseph reached home with the article **I 



Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon 179 

weighed it/' says his father, *'and it weighed thirty 
pounds. ' ' 

As soon as the Book of Mormon was published it 
attracted converts and Smith immediately organized 
them into the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, 
placing himself at their head. At the time of his death 
at Carthage, Illinois, where he and his brother Hyrani 
were assassinated by a mob in June, 1844, he had 
founded a New Jerusalem of some fifteen thousand 
souls at Nauvoo on the banks of the Mississippi, and 
was universally recognized by his followers as the 
apostle and prophet of God. Brigham Young correctly 
expressed the position of the whole Mormon Church 
when he said of him shortly after his death: *' Every 
spirit that confesses that Joseph Smith is a prophet, 
that he lived and died a prophet, and that the Book of 
Mormon is true, is of God, and every spirit that does 
not is of Antichrist." 

The Latter Day Saints have always believed and 
believe to-day that Smith obtained the plates in the 
manner already described, and that the Book of Mormon 
is of a purely divine origin. Of those who do not ac- 
cept this view of the matter some hold that the work is 
the joint product of a Congregational minister once 
living at New Salem, Ohio, by the name of Solomon 
Spaulding, who supplied the historical part, and a 
Baptist minister by the name of Sidney Rigdon, wlio 
filled in the religious part and brought out the book 
under Joseph Smith's name and with his sanction. 
This opinion is strongly advocated by W. A. Linn in 
his exhaustive work on the Story of the Afonnons from 
ike Date of their On'trin to the Year igor. 

In spite of all that has l)cen written in support of 
this view by Linn and others, nobody has yet been 



i8o The Sphere of Religion 

able to show that Smith ever heard of Spaulding or his 
alleged novel about the origin of the American Indians. 
No tangible proof of the existence of such a novel was 
forthcoming till 1885, when President Fairchild, ol 
Oberlin College, claimed that he had accidentally dis- 
covered the manuscript of it in the library of a friend 
in Honolulu. He himself admits, however, that there 
is Uttle or no resemblance between Spaulding' s story 
entitled Manuscript Foimd and the Book of Mormon 
either in style or subject-matter, except that they both 
have considerable to sa}^ about the Ten Lost Tribes. 
Dr. Hurlburt, in whose house the manuscript was 
found, says of it: "I should as soon think the Book of 
Revelation was written by the author of Don Quixote, 
as that the writer of this manuscript was the author ot 
the Book of Mormon." The only similarity that he 
was able to find between them was that they both claim 
to have been dug up out of the ground. 

As to Sidney Rigdon the evidence is good that he 
had only the slightest acquaintance with Smith until 
after the establishment of the Church of Latter Day 
Saints, when he became one of his converts. 

The more rational view of the origin of the Book of 
Mormon, and the one now held by almost all com- 
petent and unprejudiced investigators, is well expressed 
by Dr. I. W. Rile}^ in his extremely able work on 
The Fou7ider of Mor7nonis7n, when he sa3's: *' Joseph 
Smith's record of the Indians is a product indigenous 
to the New York * Wilderness,' and the authentic work 
of the * author and proprietor. ' Outwardly, it reflects 
the local color of Palmyra and Manchester, inwardly 
its complex of thought is a replica of Smith's muddled 
brain." 

In other words, barring out the choicest parts of 



Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon 1 8 1 

the Old Testament and the copious extracts from the 
gospels that we find in the book, the history of Joseph 
Smith before the work appeared and his history after 
show beyond reasonable doubt that he produced it by 
the use of his own natural powers. The very first 
words of the first chapter reveal the fact that the acts 
of Nephi are the acts of Joseph, and so on to the closing 
pavssages of the last chapter. 

The conversion of Joseph Smith occurred near Pal- 
myra in 1820, when he w^as in his fifteenth year. He 
had previously been noted '' only for his indolent and 
vagabondish character, and his habits of exaggeration 
and untruthfulness." His father was a shiftless farmer 
and root-digger, who had wandered from Sharon, \'cr- 
mont, where Joseph was born December 23, 1805, over 
into Ontario County, New York, and there taken up a 
land claim. Both Joseph's father and mother were 
strong believers in heavenly visions, faith cures, witch- 
craft, and demoniacal possessions. The son had grown 
up in the atmosphere of these ideas, and he took to 
them as to his natural breath. Besides this, in his 
youth he was given to epileptic seizures, and many 
times he seriously injured himself while in this state. 
On several occasions he twisted his limbs out of joint 
and severely bruised his body, having at the time no 
consciousness of the fact. 

He grew up in a most extraordinary religious en- 
vironment. Western New York in his boyhood was 
swept by wave after wave of religious excitement, and 
later came to be generally known as the Bunit Dis- 
trict. A multitude of contending sects existed on every 
hand. Near Ithaca there were seven different kinds 
of Baptists, and during Smith's stay in Palmyra four 
schisms occurred among the Metluxlists — the sect to- 



1 82 The Sphere of Religion 

ward which he was himself more particularly inclined. 
At Canandaigua, only ten miles from his home, the 
Fox sisters by their extraordinary rapping seances 
dumbfounded their auditors and laid the foundations 
of modem spiritualism. William Miller at Rochester 
had already successfully established the sect of Second 
Adventists. Jemima Wilkinson, who claimed to have 
been raised from the dead to preach the gospel and to 
be able to work miracles, had purchased 14,000 acres 
of land in Yates County and established a colony there 
of her followers. 

What wonder that young Smith, who had had re- 
markable experiences of his own, early began to medi- 
tate upon the ways and means of carrying out some 
similar project. He was constantly having visions, 
and his conversion occurred in one of them. This he 
describes as follows : ' ' After I had retired into a place 
where I had previously designed to go, having looked 
around me and finding myself alone, I kneeled down 
and began to offer up the desires of my heart unto 
God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I 
was seized upon by some power which entirely over- 
came me, and had such astonishing influence over me 
as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. 

' ' Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed 
to me for a time as if I was doomed to sudden destruc- 
tion. But exerting all my powers to call upon God to 
deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had 
seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was 
ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to de- 
struction, not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power 
of some actual being from the unseen world, who had 
such a marvellous power as I had never before felt in 
any being. Just at this moment of great alarm, I saw 



Joseph Smitlis Book of Mormon 183 

a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the bright- 
ness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell 
upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself 
delivered from the enemy which held me bound. 
When the light rested upon me, I saw two personages 
whose brightness and glory defy all description, stand- 
ing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, 
. . . When I came to myself again I found myself 
lying on my back looking up into heaven.*' 

In the second of his recorded visions, the one of 
September 21, 1823, in which he was told about the 
existence of the plates, he affirms that at midnight, 
while he was engaged in '' prayer and supplication to 
Almighty God for forgiveness of all his sins," the 
room became "' lighter than at noonday,*' and a heav- 
enly messenger came to his bedside and described the 
plates so vividly *' that I could see the place where the 
plates were deposited, and that so clearly and dis- 
tinctly, that I knew the place again when I visited 
it." This vision was repeated three times the same 
night and many times afterwards. 

In addition he was repeatedly , told in these early 
visions that none of the existing religious denomina- 
tions were acknowledged of God as his church and 
kingdom. " I was expressly commanded," he says, 
** to go not after them ; at the same time receiving a 
promise that the fulness of the gospel should at some 
future time be made known unto me." Can it be won- 
dered at under the circumstances that he set himself to 
work to create some sort of a consistent whole out of 
these and similar experiences, making use of all 
other available data that he had at his command ? 

It is true that Smith lived in the backwoods and had 
little schooling, but he still was alive to what was 



1 84 The Sphere of Religion 

going on in the community and had access to a few 
inexpensive books that were in common circulation. 
Besides the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments 
he undoubtedly had the New England Primer, which 
nearly every child of that period thumbed from cover 
to cover and was supposed to know almost by heart. 
It contained the Westminster Confession of Faith, 
which, as Dr. Riley has shown, is closely paralleled 
in the speech of Nephi to his brethren. Then, as has 
already been pointed out, he probably was more or less 
familiar with Paine's Age of Reason, Beyond all ques- 
tion he had every opportunity to acquaint himself by 
reading or by hearsay with the creeds and disciplines 
of the numerous sects that were laboring to make 
converts in that region. 

Smith's Lamanites actually have the very same be- 
liefs that existed in his own locality. In harmony 
with his times he takes it for granted that the primitive 
red men had the idea of one great Spirit and the various 
notions that flow from it. The modern student of the 
subject would not agree with this position. For he 
maintains that such beliefs arose among these people 
only after long famiUarity with the doctrines of 
Christianity. 

The theory that the Indians were the remnant of the 
Ten Lost Tribes of Israel was an idea current almost 
from the first settlement of the country. The early 
Spanish priests identified the natives with them, and so 
did a Jewish rabbi as early as 1650. John Eliot, *' the 
Apostle to the Indians in Massachusetts,'' wrote an 
essay in favor of it. Roger Williams, William Penn, 
and Jonathan Edwards advocated this view, and Smith 
must have been familiar with it from early boyhood. 

But the most striking thing in Smith's surroundings 



Joseph SmitJis Book of Morvion 185 

was the large number of mysterious aboriginal remains 
that abounded on every hand. *' Along the shores of 
lyake Ontario there was a series of ancient earthworks, 
entrenched hills, and occasional mounds or tumuh." 
Human bones and relics had been found on an em- 
bankment in Canandaigua. Livingston County had 
a big artificial ditch of sixteen acres, and Seneca 
County had ancient caches full of art relics and frag- 
ments of pottery. Near Geneva were the remains of a 
so-called Indian castle, and in the vicinity of Smith's 
home spear-heads and hatchets had been dug up in 
abundance. 

In early youth Smith had been a money digger, and 
Indian mounds were the most attractive and profitable 
places in which to search for hidden treasures. As 
Dr. Riley has well said, "He [Smith] mixed up what he 
knew about living Indians with what he could gather 
about dead ones, and the amalgam was the angel 
Moroni's ' brief sketch concerning the aboriginal 
inhabitants of this country.' " 

That Smith was capable of composing the Book of 
Mormon from the material at his disposal is also seen 
by comparing its vStyle and matter with other works 
that he unquestionably produced. No sooner had he 
completed his labors on the Book of Mormon than 
he went to work on the Visions of Moses, and six 
months later he brought out the Writings of Moses. 
Later he completed a Revised Translation of the Old 
and New Testaments. In 1842, as the editor of Times 
and Seasons, he published a "Translation of Some 
Ancient Records, that have fallen into our hands from 
the Catacombs of Kgypt, the Writings of Abraham 
while he was in Ki;ypt called the Book of Abraham, 
written by his own hand upon Papyrus." This was a 



1 86 The Sphere of Religion 

' * book ' * that he had made up from the hieroglyphics 
found in the casings of some Egyptian mummies that 
he had persuaded the church to buy for him of a show- 
man passing through the place. From the day he 
assumed the title of ''Prophet, Seer, and Revelator*' 
at the age of eighteen to the end of his career he was 
constantly claiming to receive direct communications 
from the Almighty on almost every conceivable sub- 
ject. These ''revelations" were collected together 
into what he called the Doctrine and Covenants of 
the Church of the Latter Day Saints. 

In all of these productions we have unmistakable evi- 
dence from the style of composition and general subject- 
matter that their author is identical with the writer of 
the Book of Mormon and of the afl&davits that were 
signed by the eleven witnesses regarding the plates 
upon which it was engraved. 

Before the book was completed Smith began to make 
preparations for carrying out the idea that he was the 
lineal descendant of Joseph, the prime minister of an- 
cient Egypt, and the divinely appointed head of all 
Latter Day Saints. On May 15, 1829, he took Cow- 
dery, his amanuensis, with him into the woods and 
earnestly besought the Lord to inform him about how 
to carry out the baptism mentioned in the plates. 
Speedily John the Baptist, he says, appeared to them 
in a cloud of light, * ' and having laid his hands upon 
us, he ordained us, saying unto us : ' Upon you, my 
fellow-servants, in the name of the Messiah, I confer 
the priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the 
ministering angels, and of the Gospel of repentance, 
and of baptism by immersion for the remission of 
sins.^ '' 

Later he received from Peter, James, and John, he 



Joseph SmitJis Book of Mormon 187 

asserts, ** the power of laying on of hands for the gift 
of the Holy Ghost," thus supplanting even the bishops 
of the Roman Church, who get their power through 
a succession of popes and not direct from heaven. 

When Smith wanted anything done he got a reve- 
lation for it just as he thought was the custom of all 
prophets. He was often in such a state of mind that 
he could not distinguish between subjective illusions 
and objective realities. It seems quite impossible, there- 
fore, in his case to draw the line between self-deception 
and conscious duplicity. 

His remarkable success in attracting followers, over 
many of whom he exerted a strong hypnotic influence, 
was attended not only with a growing sensualism 
which ultimately led to his secret adoption of polygamy , 
but also developed a colossal egotism which surpassed 
all bounds. He soon came to think and talk of him- 
self, says Dr. Riley, as *' the smartest man in Amer- 
ica/* and fully equal to any conceivable position or 
task. 

In 1843 he went to Washington and presented to 
President Van Buren a bill for $i,38i,044.55>^ to com- 
pensate himself for the damages to his property and 
character that he had received from the United States. 
As Congress that winter did not make the necessary 
appropriation to pay it, he had his followers nominate 
himself for President. One of his last addresses was 
entitled, " Views of the Powers and Policy of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States," in which there are 
quotations not only in English, but also in Italian, 
Dutch, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldec, so intro- 
duced as to convey the impression that it was a matter 
of utter indifference to him in what language he chose 
to exj)ress his thoughts. 



1 88 The Sphere of Religion 

Josiah Quincy tells us in his Figures of the Past that 
when he and Charles Francis Adams visited the Mor- 
mon colony at Nauvoo in 1843, Smith explained to 
them the inscription on his Egyptian mummy by say- 
ing : " That is the handwriting of Abraham, the Father 
of the Faithful. This is the autograph of Moses, and 
these lines were written by his brother Aaron. Here 
we have the earliest account of the creation, from which 
Moses composed the book of Genesis.'' 

Smith's own written assertion concerning himself is: 
* ' I know more than all the world put together. . . . 
I cut the Gordian knot of powers, and I solve mathe- 
matical problems of universities with truth, diamond 
truth, and God is my right-hand man." 

When we consider what a conglomeration of ideas 
the Book of Mormon reall}^ is and Joseph Smith's 
history before and after its appearance ; when we recall 
the fact that it was nearly seven years from the first 
vision of the plates to the actual publication of the 
book, and that during a large part of this time, at least, 
he was cogitating upon its contents, it seems wholly 
unnecessary to assume that the work was beyond his 
natural powers. 

The influence that the book has had and still has 
over many minds lies not only in the descriptions of 
the marvellous that abound in it, but also in the great 
and vital truths the author has incorporated in the bodj^ 
of the work taken literally from such parts of the Old 
and New Testaments as the prophecies of Isaiah and 
the discourses of Jesus. 

I.Mrs. Eddy and "Science and Health."— An- 
other book that has recently been exalted to the dig- 
nity of a bible by its devotees is Mrs. Mary Baker 
G. Kddy's work entitled Science and Healthy with Key 



Mrs. Eddy and '' Science a7id Health " 189 

to the Scriptures, the first edition of which was 
published in I^ynn, Mass., in 1875. 

As the founder of the sect of Christian vScientists and 
the pastor of its Mother Church, Mrs. Eddy made not 
long ago the following announcement : 

*' Humbly, and as I believe, divinely directed, I 
hereby ordain the Bible, and Science and Health, 
with Key to the Scriptures, to be hereafter the only 
Pastor of the Church of Christ, Scientist, throughout 
our land and in other lands. 

'' From this date, the Sunday services of our de- 
nomination shall be conducted b}^ Readers, in lieu of 
pastors. Each church, or society formed for Sunday 
worship, shall elect two Readers : a male, and a female. 
One of these individuals shall open the meeting by 
reading the hymns, and chapter (or portion of the 
chapter) in the Bible, lead in silent prayer, and repeat 
in concert w^th the congregation the Lord's Prayer. 
. . . The First Reader shall read from my Book, 
Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures, 
alternately in response to the congregation, the Spiri- 
tual interpretation of the Lord's Prayer ; also shall read 
all the selections from Science and Health referred 
to in the Sunday Lessons. The Reader of the Scrip- 
tures shall name, at each reading, the book, chapter, 
and verses. The Reader of Science and Health, with 
Key to the Scriptures, shall commence by announcing 
the full title of this book, with the name of its author, 
and add in the announcement the Christian Science 
text-book.'' 

At the same time Mrs. Eddy prescribed that "this 
form shall also be observed at the Comnumion service.'* 
And when she arranged a monthly serA'ice for the chil- 
dren, she desired that ** a sermon shall be preached to 



I go The Sphere of Religion 

the children, from selections taken from the Scriptures 
and Science and Health, especially adapted to the 
occasion, and read after the manner of the Simday 
service." 

In prescribing the duties of those who are authorized 
by her to teach Christian Science, she says, " they 
shall steadily and patiently strive to educate their 
students in conformity to the unerring wisdom and 
love of God, and shall enjoin upon them habitually to 
study His revealed word, the Scriptures, and Science 
and Health, with Key to the Scriptures.'' Thus we 
see that whenever Christian Scientists meet together 
for worship or instruction, the Bible and Science and 
Health are put by their leader upon equal terms. 
The objection made by some of her followers that this 
is not done cannot be allowed. 

In August, 1906, Mrs. Eddy's book had already 
reached the 434th edition of one thousand copies each, 
according to the reports of the Society having the pub- 
lication in charge, 77,000 copies of the work having 
been sold the previous year. New editions of the 
work are constantly being issued to meet the increas- 
ing demand. At one time the book was published in 
two volumes, probably in imitation of the Old and New 
Testaments, but of late it has appeared in one volume, 
often in heavy Oxford India bible paper. It now con- 
sists of about 600 pages. A concordance is published 
to accompany it of about the same size and price as the 
book itself. 

The different editions of Science and Health vary 
greatly in the arrangement of the chapters. There is 
little or no logical connection between them, and it 
was probably never intended that there should be an3\ 
Each chapter easily stands alone by itself, and each 



Mrs. Eddy and ** Science and Health " 191 

chapter sets forth by constant reiteration Mrs. Eddy's 
fundamental ideas. In many of the later editions the 
first chapter is entitled Prayer, but some of the earUer 
editions open with the chapter on The Science of 
Being, which begins as follows : 

** In the year 1866 I discovered metaphysical healing, 
and named it Christian Science. The Principle thereof 
is divine and apodictical, governing all, and it reveals 
the grand verity that one erring mind controlling 
another (through w^hatever medium) is not Science 
governed by God, the unerring Mind. 

' ' When apparently near the confines of the death 
valley, I learned certain truths : that all real being is 
the Divine Mind and idea ; that the Science of Divine 
Mind demonstrates that Life, Truth, and Love are all- 
powerful and ever-present ; that the opposite of Science 
and Truth, named Error, is the false supposition of a 
false sense. This sense is, and involves a belief in, 
matter that shuts out the true sense of Spirit. The 
great facts of omnipotence and omnipresence, of Spirit 
possessing all powers and filling all space, — these facts 
contradicted forever, to my understanding, the notion 
that matter can be actual.'* 

In this passage Mrs. Eddy describes how she came 
to discover what she claims to be the way in which 
Christ regarded this universe, and the ultimate prin- 
ciple upon which he based all of his labors for the 
elevation of men. This ultimate principle, she affirms, 
is the truth that the Divine Mind and its ideas are the 
only actualities. Hence, every one who holds that the 
knowledge of Christ is valid knowledge, as she does, is 
a Christian Scientist, and must maintain that matter 
in all its forms has no reality. Its alleged existence is 
an illusion of the senses. vSin, sickness, and death, not 



192 The Sphere of Religion 

being the ideas of the Divine Mind, cannot have any 
reality. They are simply the false ideas of our mor- 
tal minds and are to be banished from our thoughts 
forever. 

Mrs. Eddy claims to have received these truths di- 
rect from Christ. ' ^ No human tongue or pen, ' ' she says, 
*'has suggested the contents of Science and Health, 
nor can tongue or pen overthrow it. Whatever men 
may now think of it, its truths will remain for the 
Christ-inspired to discern and follow." 

Jesus, wherever he went, says Mrs. Eddy, ** demon- 
strated the power of the Divine Science to heal mortal 
minds and bodies." And it is the greatest need of 
this age that his disciples should literally follow his 
command, '' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the 
lepers, cast out demons." This injunction is stamped 
on the cover of every copy of Science and Health as 
giving the keynote of its entire contents. 

These views are reiterated again and again through- 
out this chapter. Only a page or two beyond the 
passage first quoted we read : ' ' The only realities are 
the Divine Mind and its ideas." '' Sin, sickness, and 
death are comprised in a belief in matter." '* Because 
Spirit is real and harmonious, everything inharmonious 
— sin, sickness, death — is the opposite of Spirit, and 
must be the contradiction of reality, must be unreal." 

*' Nothing hygienic," says Mrs. Eddy, '' can exceed 
the healing power of mind. By mind alone I have 
prevented disease, preserved and restored health, 
healed organic as well as acute ailments in their sever- 
est forms, elongated shortened limbs, relaxed rigid 
muscles, restored decaying bones to healthy conditions, 
brought back the lost substances of the lungs and 
caused them to resume their proper functions. ' ' 



Mrs. Eddy and " Science and Health '' 193 

A little farther on, Mrs. Eddy describes what she 
means by '' mortal mind " : ''Usage classifies both evil 
and good together as mind ; therefore, to be under- 
stood, I will call sick and sinful humanity mortal mind, 
— meaning by this term, the flesh that is opposed to 
Spirit, human error and evil in contradistinction to 
Goodness and Truth, Matter is the primitive belief of 
mortal mind, that has no cognizance of Spirit. To 
mortal mind substance is matter and evil is good.'' 

'' Understanding spiritual law, and knowing there is 
no law of matter, Jesus said : ' These signs shall follow 
them that believe : they shall take up serpents ; and if 
they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. 
They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall re- 
cover.' Jesus' promise was perpetual. Had it been 
given only to his immediate disciples, the Scriptural 
passage w^ould residjoUy not t/ie/n.'" 

In the chapter on Physiology, Mrs. Eddy aflSrms 
that " Anatomy, physiology, treatises on health, — sus- 
tained by whatever is termed material law, — are the 
husbandmen of sickness and disease. It is proverbial 
that as long as you read medical works you will be 
sick." '' Because Science is at war with physics, even 
as Truth is at war with error, the old schools will 
oppose it. When there were fewer doctors, and less 
thought was given to sanitary subjects, there were 
better constitutions and less disease. In olden times 
whoever heard of dyspepsia, cerebro-spinal meningitis, 
hay-fever, and rose-cold ? " 

"What an abuse of nature to say that a rose, the 
smile of God, can produce suffering. The joy of its 
presence, its beauty and modesty, should uplift the 
thought and destroy any possible fever. It is profane 
to fancy that the sweetness of clover and breath of 



194 ^^^ Sphere of Religion 

new-mown hay may cause, like snuff, sneezing and 
nasal pangs.'* 

'' The primitive privilege, to take no thought about 
food, left the stomach and bowels free to act in obe- 
dience to nature, and gave the gospel a chance to be 
seen in its glorious effects upon the body. A ghostly 
array of diseases was not kept before the imagination. 
Fewer books on digestion, and more * sermons in stone 
and good in everything ' gave better health and greater 
longevity to our forefathers. When the mechanism 
of the human mind goes on undisturbed by fear, 
selfishness, or malice, disease cannot enter and gain a 
foothold.'* 

** Shall a regular practitioner,** continues Mrs. Eddy, 
*^ treat all the cases of organic disease, and the Chris- 
tian Scientist lay his hand only on hysteria, hypo- 
chondria, or hallucination? One disease is no more 
real than another. All disease is the result of hallu- 
cination, and can carry its ill effects no further than 
mortal mind maps out. Facts are stubborn things. 
Christian Science finds the decided type of acute 
disease, however severe, quite as ready to yield as 
the less distinct type and chronic forms of disease. 
It handles the most malignant contagion with perfect 
assurance.** 

*' You can even educate a healthy horse so far in 
physiology that he will take cold without his blanket ; 
whereas the wild animal, left to his instincts, sniffs the 
wind with delight. Epizootics] is an evolved ailment, 
that a natural horse never has.'* 

'* I have discerned disease in the human mind, and 
recognized the patient*s fear of it, many weeks before 
the so-called disease made its appearance in the body. 
Disease being a belief, — a latent creation of mind, be- 



Mrs. Eddy and ** Science and Health '' 195 

fore it appears as matter, —I am never mistaken in my 
scientific diagnosis of disease. ' ' 

'* We walk in the footsteps of Truth and Love by 
following the example of our Master, and having the 
understanding of metaphysics. Christianity is its 
basis; and physiology, that pins our trust to matter 
instead of God, is directly opposed to it. " " We are 
Christian Scientists only as we quit our hold upon 
material things, and grasp the spiritual, —until we have 
left all for Christ.'^ 

In the chapter on Imposition and Demonstration 
Mrs. Eddy says : * * Let us rid ourselves of the belief 
that man is a separate intelligence from God, and obey 
the unerring principle of Life and Love. Jesus acted 
boldly against the accredited evidence of the senses, 
against Pharisaical creeds and practices. He refuted 
all opponents with his healing power. We never read 
that Jesus made a diagnosis of a disease, in order to 
discover some means of healing it. He never asked if 
it were acute or chronic. He never recommended at- 
tention to laws of health, never gave drugs, never 
prayed to know if God were willing that man should 
live. He understood man to be an immortal, whose 
life is in God, — not that man has two lives, one to be 
destroyed and the other to be made indestructible.'* 

** Jesus established his church, and maintained his 
mission, on the basis of Christian healing. He taught 
his followers that his religion had a Principle that 
could cast out errors, and heal both the sick and the 
sinful. He claimed no intelligence, action, or life 
separate from God. Despite the persecutions this 
brought upon him, he used his divine power to s;ive 
men both bodily and spiritually." "As in Jesus* 
days, tyranny and pride need to be whipped out of 



ig6 The Sphere of Religion 

the Temple, while humility and Divine Science are 
welcomed in.'' 

' ' The Man of Sorrows best understood the nothing- 
ness of material life and intelligence, and the mighty 
actuality of all-inclusive Mind. These are the two 
cardinal points of Mind-healing, or Christian Science. 
The highest earthly representative of God, speaking of 
human ability to reflect divine power, prophetically 
said to his disciples, ' The works that I do shall ye do 
also.' " 

The following extracts from the chapter on Healing 
and Teaching give a fair illustration of its general 
contents : 

' ' Fear is the foundation of all disease. " * ' Remember 
that all is Mind. You are only seeing and feeling a 
belief, whether it be cancer, deformity, consumption, 
or fracture that you deal with." '^Sickness is a dream 
from which the patient needs to be awakened." *' In- 
struct the sick that they are not helpless victims ; but 
that if they only know how, they can resist disease and 
ward it off, just as positively as they can a temptation 
to sin. Instead of blind and calm submission to incip- 
ient or advanced stages of disease, rise in rebellion 
against them." 

*^ The depraved appetite for alcoholic drinks, tobacco, 
tea, coffee, opium, is destroyed only by the mastery of 
Mind over body." ^*Pufl&ng the obnoxious fumes of 
tobacco, or chewing a leaf naturally attractive to no 
animal except to a loathsome worm, is self-evident 
error." *' Man's enslavement to the most relentless 
masters — passion, appetite, or malice — is conquered 
only by a mighty struggle. . . . Here Christian 
Science is the sovereign panacea, giving to the weak- 
ness of mortal mind, strength from the immortal and 



Mrs. Eddy and ** Science and Health " 197 

omnipotent Mind, lifting humanity above itself, into 
purer desires, — even into moral power and good will 
to man/' 

'*We must have faith in all the sayings of our 
Master, though they are not included in the teachings 
of the schools, and not understood generally by our 
instructors in morality. Jesus said (John viii. 52), 
* If a man keep my sayings, he shall never taste of 
death.' " ''If man is never to overcome death, why 
do the Scriptures say, * The last enemy that shall be 
destroyed is death ' ? " ** Sin brought death, and death 
will disappear with sin. Man is immortal, and the 
body cannot die, because it has no life of its own. The 
illusions named death, sickness, and sin are all that 
can be destroyed. ' ' 

In later editions of Science and Health the chapter 
on Healing and Practice is somewhat enlarged, and has 
the title of Christian Science Practice. Among the 
added instructions Mrs. Eddy gives to her students in 
it we have the following: ** Until the advancing age 
admits the efficacy and supremacy of Mind, it is better 
to leave the adjustment of broken bones and disloca- 
tions to the fingers of a surgeon, while you confine 
yourself chiefly to mental reconstruction, and the j)rc- 
vention of inflammation or protracted confinement. 
Christian Science is always the most skilful surgeon, 
but surgery is the branch of its healing which will be 
last demonstrated. However, it is but just to say that 
the author has already in her possession well-authen- 
ticated records of the cure, by herself and her students, 
through mental surgery alone, of dislocated joints and 
spinal vertebrae." 

The last chapter in many editions of vSciencc and 
Health is entitled Glossary, in which is given the 



igS The Sphere of Religion 

spiritual meaning that words used in the Scriptures 
have according to Mrs. Eddy. This meaning varies 
greatly from that ordinarily accepted. One of her 
maxims is that ' * the literal or material reading is the 
reading of the carnal mind, which is enmity toward 
God." Even proper nouns, she claims, do not have 
in the Bible their usual significance. For example, 
Euphrates means, *^ Divine Science, encompassing the 
universe and man,'^ *^ Metaphysics, taking the place of 
physics,'' ** a state of sinless mortal thought." Eve is 
defined as *' mortality," ''a futile belief of life, sub- 
stance, and intelligence in matter," ** self-imposed 
folly." And of Adam she says : ** Somewhat in this 
way ought Adam to be thought of: as a dam, an ob- 
struction, as error opposed to truth, — as standing for 
that which is accursed, spoiled, or undone." Every- 
thing in the Scriptures, according to Mrs. Eddj^ is 
misunderstood until it has a spiritual, or what she calls 
a ** metaphysical " interpretation, and this she claims 
is found alone in her Key. 

The lyord's Prayer, which she requires to be used in 
all Christian Science churches, she spiritually inter- 
prets as follows : 

' ' Principle, eternal and harmonious, 

Nameless and adorable Intelligence, 

Thou art ever present and supreme. 

And when this supremacy of Spirit shall appear, 
the dream of matter will disappear. 

Give us the understanding of Truth and Love. 

And loving we shall learn God, and Truth will 
destroy all error. 

And lead us unto Life that is Soul, and deliver us 
from the errors of sense, sin, sickness, and death. 

For God is Life, Truth, and Love forever." 



Mrs. Eddy and ** Science and Health '' 199 

With this general summary of the contents of Science 
and Health before us, our next endeavor will be to 
ascertain what there was, if anything, in Mrs. Eddy's 
early history that will enable us to account for the 
origin of the book. And the moment we open her 
autobiography, to which she has given the title /?i/ro- 
spectioji and Retrospection^ we find that her exj^eriences 
have always been in her opinion of the most unusual 
sort. '* When I was about eight years old," she writes, 
*'I repeatedly heard a voice, calling me distinctly by 
name three times, in an ascending scale." At first the 
voice frightened her, but as soon as she learned to an- 
swer the call by replying, *' Speak, I^ord, for thy ser\'ant 
heareth," every fear vanished, and all became peace 
and joy. 

In describing her early education she tells us that 
*'at ten years of age I was as familiar with Lindlcy 
Murray's Grammar as with the Westminster Catechism ; 
and the latter I had to repeat every Sunday. My 
favorite studies were Natural Philosophy, Logic, and 
Moral Science. From my brother Albert I received 
lessons in the ancient tongues, Hebrew, Greek, and 
Latin." In accounting for the slight evidence of this 
knowledge in her works she says, '* After my dis- 
covery of Christian Science, most of the knowledge I 
had gleaned from schoolbooks vanished like a dream.*' 

Just before she was admitted to the Congregational 
(Trinitarian) Church at the age of twelve, as she tells 
us in a chapter entitled Theological Reminiscences. 
** the doctrine of Unconditional Election or Predesti- 
nation greatly troubled me. ... So perturbed was I 
by the thoughts aroused by this erroneous dcxrtriiie 
that the family doctor was summoned and pronounced 
me stricken with fever." 



2 00 The Sphere of Religion 

While in this condition, her father, she says, tried 
his best to convert her to his man-made creed, but to 
no purpose. On the contrary, '' My mother," she con- 
tinues, * ' as she bathed my burning temples, bade me 
lean on God's love, which would give me rest, if I 
went to Him in prayer, as I was wont to do, seeking 
His guidance. I prayed ; and a soft glow of ineflFable 
joy came over me. The fever was gone, and I rose 
and dressed myself, in a normal condition of health. 
Mother saw this and was glad. The physician mar- 
velled ; and the * horrible decree ' of Predestination — 
as John Calvin rightly called his own tenet — forever 
lost its power over me.'* 

Out of this experience and others of a similar char- 
acter grew Mrs. Eddy's favorite doctrine of the supe- 
riority of the feminine element in matters of religion. 
Woman she describes as ** a higher term for man." 
She alone *' gives the full spiritual compound idea of 
Him who is Life, Truth, and lyove." '' She is the first 
to abandon the belief in the material origin of man and 
to discern spiritual creation." It is this quality of 
superior spiritual insight that *' enables woman to be 
first to interpret the Scriptures in their true sense." 
Just as *^ Jesus was the offspring of Mary's self-conscious 
communion with God," so when Divine Science comes 
into the world, *' woman must give it birth. It must 
be begotten of spirituality, since none but the pure in 
heart can see God." 

Mrs. Eddy's doctrine on this subject reaches its 
climax in the clear intimation, if not the direct asser- 
tion, that she is herself the woman referred to in the 
twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, which opens 
as follows: *'And there appeared a great wonder in 
heaven ; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon 



Mrs. Eddy and '' Science and Health '' 201 



under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve 
stars/' 

'' When quite a child,'' she writes, " w^e adopted the 
Graham system for dyspepsia, ate only bread and vege- 
tables, and drank water. Following this diet for years, 
we became more dyspeptic, however, and, of course, 
thought we must diet more rigidly ; so we partook of 
but one meal in twenty-four hours, and this consisted 
of a thin slice of bread, about three inches square, 
without water; our physician not allowing us, with 
this ample meal, to wet our parched lips for many 
hours thereafter ; whenever we drank it produced vio- 
lent retchings. Thus we passed most of our early years, 
as many can attest, in hunger, pain, weakness, and 
starvation." 

Here we find most unmistakably one of the cliicf 
sources of Mrs. Eddy's ultra opinions so often reiterated 
about the futility of any attempt to regain health by 
following the law^s of hygiene, or any prescription 
based upon material science. 

From this and similar experiences she says herself 
that she learned to bid defiance to the ''medicine- 
men." ** Metaphysical Science came in and saved 
me." ** Truth, opening my eyes, relieved my stomach, 
and I ate without suffering, giving God thanks." " I 
learned also that food gives no strength or weakness 
to the body, that mind alone does that." 

Mrs. Eddy's birthplace was in the town of Bow, 
N. H., in sight of her present home at Pleasant View 
in Concord, the capital of the State. While she was 
still a young girl, her parents moved to Tilton, a village 
eighteen miles north of Concord, adjoining the town of 
Canterbury, where there was a flouri.shing settlement 
of Shakers. From them she undoubtedly received 



202 The Sphere of Religion 

many ideas and suggestions that greatly influenced 
her tendencies of thought. The doctrine of * * divine 
illumination," for which the Shakers were famous, she 
must have become familiar with, as it was one of the 
current topics of conversation in all that region. Her 
brother Albert worked in the law ofl&ce of Franklin 
Pierce (afterward President of the United States), who 
was counsel for the Shakers, and had charge of an 
important trial of some of their number in Concord 
in 1848. 

Being impelled, as she says herself, *^ from my very 
childhood by a hunger and thirst after divine things, — 
a desire for something higher and better than matter 
and apart from it," she must certainly have read with 
avidity the current literature of this ** Church of Jesus 
Christ and Mother Ann," which she could so easily 
obtain from any of her neighbors. In it we find the 
same outbursts against putting confidence in matter 
that we find in Science and Health. Both the Shakers 
and Mrs. Eddy reject and almost abhor the literal 
interpretation of the Bible, and constantly insist that 
the symbolic interpretation is the only true one. Both 
affirm that the last dispensation will be one of healing 
by spiritual means alone. Both teach that the Second 
Coming of Christ must of necessity be in the form of a 
woman. In fact, if we should take the declaration of 
the Shakers, as expressed in their Manual, that 
* ' Shakerism is the only religious system that teaches 
Science by Divine Revelation," we should only need 
to change the first word of the sentence to have a 
satisfactory statement of Mrs. Eddy's claim. 

Mother Ann's personal experiences must have made 
a deep impression upon Mrs. Eddy, and their lives 
have much in common. Mrs. Ann lyce Stanley, who 



Mrs. Eddy and '' Science and Health " 20 



J 



had succeeded to the leadership of the Shaking Quakers 
in England, came to this country with a few of her fol- 
lowers in 1774, and settled in Watervliet, New York, a 
few miles from Albany. She was acknowledged as a 
*' Mother in Christ" by her devotees, and early as- 
sumed the title of ''Ann, the Word.'^ She believed 
that she was constantly inspired from on high, and 
that she had the power to work miracles. A civil 
charge was brought against her for high treason and 
witchcraft, and for some years vShe was imprisoned at 
Albany and Poughkeepsie. The result of this alleged 
persecution was that her followers rapidly multiplied. 
Settlements were formed in New Hampshire, Connect- 
icut, Ohio, and other States to carry out her doctrines. 
After her death it was asserted by many of her followers 
that messages were received from her both orally and 
in writing. Both Ann Lee and Mrs. Eddy early in 
life had their heavenly visions. Their extraordinary- 
ascetic practices were very similar, and their views 
about marriage and the motherhood of God were strik- 
ingly alike. They both taught their followers to apply 
to them "the endearing term of mother," and they 
both claimed the possession of superhuman powers. 
For these and other reasons, the evidence is most 
decisive that the influence of the one upon the other 
was direct and intimate. 

In 1843 Mrs. Eddy married her first husband, a Mr. 
Glover, of Charleston, South Carolina, but he died the 
following year, and she returned to the paternal roof in 
Tilton to take up afresh her search for health. ** I 
wandered," she says, "through the dim mazes 
of Materia Medica, till I was weary of 'scientific 
guessing,* as it has been called. I .sought knowledge 
from the different schools— Allopathy, Honueopathy, 



204 The Sphere of Religion 

Hydropathy, Electricity, and from various humbugs — 
but without receiving satisfaction. . . . Neither 
ancient nor modern philosophy could clear the clouds, 
or give one distinct statement of the spiritual Science 
of Mind-healing. Human reason was not equal to it." 

Another experience that furnished Mrs. Eddy with 
much material for Science and Health was her sojourn 
in the sanitarium of P. P. Quimby, a noted mental 
healer of Portland, Maine. For many years after her 
second marriage to Dr. Patterson, she remained an in- 
valid, and no relief came to her aid until in 1862 she 
was taken for treatment to Portland. For seven years 
previous to her going to Quimby, she says in a letter 
quoted by Dr. Riley in his valuable article on **The 
Personal Sources of Christian Science'' {PsychoL Rev,, 
Nov., 1903), " I was confined to my bed with a severe 
illness and seldom left my bed or room." So much 
did he help her that ^' in less than one week," accord- 
ing to her own statement, she ** ascended by a stairway 
of one hundred and eighty- two steps to the dome of the 
City Hall," and was almost entirely well. 

Quimby' s method of treatment is thus described in 
one of his circulars of 1859 : '* I make no outward ap- 
plication, but simply sit by the patient, tell him what 
he thinks is his disease, and my explanation is the 
cure. If I succeed in correcting his errors, I change 
the fluids of his system and establish the truth or 
health. The truth is the cure." 

Mr. Quimby died the 3"ear before Mrs. Eddy made 
what she calls her ' ' Great Discovery, ' ' that all is mind 
and mind is all. Of the parallelisms between Mrs. 
Eddy's views as found in Science and Health and 
Quimby' s. Dr. Riley in the article quoted above writes 
as follows : '' At first sight Eddyism might seem noth- 



Mrs. Eddy and '' Science and Health " 205 

ing but Quimbyism. He taught a ' Science of 
Health ' ; she wrote ' Science and Health ' ; both em- 
ployed the tenn Christian Science. Again, Mrs. Eddy 
has her reversed statements, propositions which are 
oflFered as self-evident because they read backward. 
She propounds this concatenation : ' There is no pain 
in Truth, and no Truth in pain ; no matter in mind, 
and no mind in matter ; no nerve in Intelligence, and 
no Intelligence in nerve ; no matter in Spirit, and no 
Spirit in matter.' Similar patent reversibles are to be 
found in Quimby's * Science of Man ' : ' Error is sick- 
ness, Truth is health ; Error is matter, Truth is God ; 
God is right, error is wrong.' *' 

It is beyond reasonable doubt that both Mr. Quimby 
and Mrs. Eddy got many of their ideas from the books 
in common circulation in their day dealing with the 
subjects in which they had a deep personal interest. 
And it is nothing to their discredit that such was the 
case. Durant's New Theory of Animal Magnetism, 
with a Key to the Mysteries, was a book that then 
had many readers. Dr. Dod's book on the Philo- 
sophy of Electrical Psychology must have been fre- 
quently at hand, to say nothing of Grimes's Mys- 
teries of Human Nature, of which almost ever>'body 
in that day had something to say pro or con. 

Furthermore, Mrs. Eddy repeatedly refers to her 
experiences with Homoeopathy as greatly influencing 
her views. ''I found," she says, in her diapter on 
Introspection and Retrospection, *' in the two hundred 
and sixty-two remedies enumerated by Jahr, one jkt- 
vading secret, — namely, that the less material medicine 
we have, and the more mind, the better the work 
is done ; a fact which seems to prove the principle of 
Mind-healing. One drop of the thirtieth attenuation 



2o6 The Sphere of Religion 

of Natrum Muriaticum, in a tumblerful of water, and 
one teaspoonful of the water mixed with the faith of 
ages, wotdd cure patients not aflfected by a larger 
dose/' 

With these numerous sources to draw from, we can- 
not admit Mrs, Eddy's assertion that what she calls 
'*The Precious Volume" is ''hopelessly original," 
and that all other systems of mental healing are pla- 
giarisms from it. Much less can we assent to her pre- 
posterous claim when she says: ** I should blush to 
write of Science and Health, with Key to the Scrip- 
tures, as I have done, were it of human origin, and I, 
apart from God, its author ; but as I was only a scribe, 
echoing the harmonies of Heaven in divine meta- 
physics, I cannot be supermodest of the Christian 
Science text-book. ' ' 

The work before us plainly grew up out of Mrs. 
Eddy's peculiar experiences and environment. It is 
the product of the application of her own natural 
powers to the data thus acquired, and its value ought 
to be determined by just the same tests as we apply to 
all similar products, namely, by the success with which 
it accounts for all the actual facts. 

Now nothing is better established by observation and 
experiment than that the mind under certain condi- 
tions can to a remarkable degree affect the activities of 
the body. Great mental excitement has often made 
people insensible to what would otherwise have 
been excruciating pain. Paralytics in numerous in- 
stances have risen from their beds and fled unaided 
from burning buildings. Many persons have brought 
on sickness and death by the morbid dread of certain 
diseases. Others have maintained themselves in health 
and strength against extraordinary odds by a cheerful 



Mrs. Eddy and '' Science and Health " 207 

and hopeful spirit. These facts have been noted almost 
from the dawn of history, and are made use of to-day 
by the Hottentots of South Africa as well as by the 
most refined and cultivated people of the globe. 

As Professor Angell has expressed it in his excellent 
discussion of " Christian Science from a Psychologist's 
Point of View'' i^The World To-day^ April, 1905). 
** Mesmerists, hypnotists, Christian Scientists, faith 
curists, mental healers, medicine-men, priests, saints, 
and physicians, one and all succeed, by playing upon 
the imagination, in producing remarkable changes in 
bodily health." Suggestive therapeutics has undoubt- 
edly healed a long list of diseases, all the way from in- 
somnia and neuralgia up to alcoholism and asthma in 
some of its worst forms. It has also greatly mitigated 
the distressing symptoms of other troubles in which the 
nervous system plays an important part. But there is 
little or no proof that the diseases caused by bacilli, 
such as typhoid fever, smallpox, and bubonic plague, 
or cases of fracture, can be helped in this manner. 

Mrs. Eddy is right in appealing to religion in the 
care of the body as well as of the soul. For ** religious 
enthusiasm has always been one of the most effective 
spurs to human action," and only the greatest good 
can come from urging the patient to commit himself 
unreservedly to the kindly purposes of God. But there 
is not a particle of reason in this position for holding 
either that there is no body, or that disease has no 
existence at all. 

The fact that we may sometimes be in a condition iu 
which we are not thinking of our bodies, does not prove 
that we never had any. Because we may sometimes 
be ignorant of the existence of a disease, that should 
not argue that we have established the non-existence 



2o8 The Sphere of ReltgioJi 

of all disease. Xor have we an\^ ground for holding 
that sin, sickness, and death have the same relation to 
realit}' that darkness has to hght, as Mrs. Eddy con- 
stantty asserts. Darkness is mereh^ the absence of 
light, but sin is not merely the absence of goodness. 
Sin is the product of a bad intention, and a bad inten- 
tion is just as real as a good intention. Sickness is not 
merel}^ the absence of the idea of health. It is a dis- 
ordered condition of the body and is just as real as a 
well-ordered condition, which is health. 

Moreover, our knowledge of our individual existence 
is to us the most fundamental fact in the universe. We 
cannot consider ourselves as the mere idea of some other 
being, even of God. Nor can we regard God as all-in- 
all in the sense in which Mrs. Eddy regards him, — as 
the sum-total of the universe, — although we can talk 
about such a being just as we can talk about round 
squares and quadrilateral triangles. 

The position taken in Science and Health ignores the 
teachings of histor}'. Mrs. Eddy has recently said in a 
letter to the New York. A merica7i, dated Nov. 22, 1906: 
''I do not find my authority for Christian Science in 
history-, but in revelation. If there had never been such 
a person as the Gahlean Prophet, it would make no 
difference to me. ' ' 

It is equally at variance with Mrs. Edd3''s position to 
look through nature up to God. As there is no such 
thing as matter, the heavens for her do not declare the 
glor}' of God, nor does the firmament show forth his 
handiwork. There is nothing to be learned b}' con- 
sidering the lilies of the field or the fowls of the air. 
Just as we must reject Mrs. Eddy's psycholog>^ as an 
unjustifiable exaggeration and per\'ersion of a great 
truth, so we must refuse to accept her one-sided con- 



1 



Mrs, Eddy and '' Science and Health " 209 

ception of the universe in which we live and its relation 
to our Maker. 

Most emphatically ought we to protest against the 
claim she makes in her Miscellaneous Writings (p. 364) 
for Christian Science that ''it is the soul of divine 
philosophy and there is no other philosophy. It is not 
a search after wisdom, it is wisdom : it is God's right 
hand grasping the universe." 

There is much ground for the statement of an able 
and careful critic of Christian Science that the proper 
point of view from which to judge of Mrs. Eddy's con- 
tribution to the cause of religion is to be found in the 
analysis of her own statement: *' I am a Christian Scien- 
tist, the Founder of this System of Religion,— widely 
known, one readily sees that this science has distanced 
all other religions and pathological systems for physical 
and moral reformation." 

In spite of all this egotism and misrepresentation of 
the truth, it must be admitted that Christian Science 
has an important message for this present materialistic 
age ; for it emphasizes the fact that the mental and 
spiritual things in this universe are vastly more impor- 
tant than the material, and that the most fundamental 
truths with which we have to do are not obtained through 
the senses, but are immediately discerned. It makes 
vivid the fact that man is not a mere machine, or a slave 
of the body, but a living spirit ; and it brings promi- 
nently to view the much neglected truth that the mission 
of religion is to purify and ennoble the l)ody as well as 
the soul. 

Christian Science is not by any means to be regarded 
as a delusion and a snare. The way to make it useful 
to the religious progress of mankind, as a writer in the 
Outlook (June 23, 1906) has well said, is **to leach 



2 1 o The Sphere of Religion 

with greater clearness and power the three truths of 
which its votaries regard themselves as peculiar proph- 
ets, namely, the spiritual nature of man, the imme- 
diacy of the soul's knowledge of the spiritual world, 
and the curative power of Christianity ; and to teach 
these truths freed from the accompanying errors of 
Christian Science that the body is but a shadow, 
spiritual visions are infallible guides, and the cure of 
evil, whether moral or physical, is thinking that it 
does not exist." 

m. Madame Blavatsky's " Isis Unveiled." — It 
is a striking fact that during the same period of time 
in which Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy was strenuously 
laboring to place the Christian Science religion upon 
a firm foundation in and around Boston, a Russian 
noblewoman, by the name of Madame Helena P. 
Blavatsky, was working with even greater zeal and 
energy to establish Theosophy, or the '' Wisdom 
religion," in New York. 

Mrs. Eddy had been brought up very simply in the 
country, and had spent her life almost wholly in a 
small portion of New England. Madame Blavatsky 
was a typical cosmopolitan, having from her girlhood 
been a great traveller, and having acquainted herself, 
by actual contact, with the people and customs of a 
large portion of the globe. 

Both of these women claimed to be directed by 
superhuman powers and to speak with an authority 
not born of the earth. The text-book prepared by 
Mrs. Eddy for her followers was entitled Science and 
Health, with Key to the Scriptures. Madame Blavat- 
sky called her work Isis Unveiled ; a Master-key to 
the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and 
Theology, The former bible was published in 1875; 



Madame Blavatsky s '' Isis U7iveiled'' 211 

the latter in 1876. Very few copies of Science and 
Health were sold for months after its issue. The en- 
tire first edition of his Unveiled was taken up within 
fourteen days. 

The circumstances that led Madame Blavatsky to 
the writing of his Unveiled are substantially as fol- 
lows : Alone and with very little money she landed in 
New York on the 7th of July, 1873, having crossed the 
Atlantic on a French steamship sailing from Ha\Te. 
For several weeks after her arrival she had lodgings in 
a cheap east-side tenement-house, and supported her- 
self by sewing cravats for a Hebrew shopkeeper near 
her quarters. 

As soon as her family found out her whereabouts 
through the Russian consul in New York, they sent 
her ample means to establish herself in comfort at 
16 Irving Place, near Union Square, where she was 
soon surrounded by a large circle of admirers. To 
them she entrusted the fact that she had left Paris 
on a day's notice by order of certain Tibetan *'Ma- 
hatmas'* or ** Masters," residing in the fastnesses of 
the Himalayas, who had directed her to go at once 
to New York and await further orders. 

During the first year of her residence in America she 
devoted her energies to the ardent defence of Spiritual- 
ism from the many fierce attacks to which it was at 
that time subjected, owing to the remarkable mani- 
festations being given through the Fox sisters in and 
around Rochester, N. Y. In a letter to The Spiritualist 
in 1874 she wrote : ** For over fifteen years have I 
fought my battle for the blessed truth ; have travelled 
and preached it — though I never was bom for a lec- 
turer—from the snow-covered tops of the Caucasian 
Mountains as well as from the sandy valleys of the 



2 12 The Sphere of Religion 

Nile. I have proved the truth of it practically and by 
persuasion. For the sake of Spiritualism I have left 
m}'- home, an easy life amongst a civilized society, and 
have become a wanderer upon the face of the earth. 
. . . Knowing this country to be the cradle of Modem 
Spiritualism, I came over here from France with feel- 
ings not unlike those of a Mohammedan approaching 
the birthplace of his Prophet/* 

Madame Blavatsky did not, however, adopt the 
spiritualistic explanation of the phenomena produced. 
In a note found in one of her scrap-books written about 
this time, referring to her connection with the Spirit- 
ualists, she says : ** I was sent from Paris to America 
on purpose to prove the phenomena and their reality, 
and to show the fallacy of the spiritualistic theory of 
spirits. But how could I do it best? I did not want 
the people at large to know that I could produce the 
same things at will. I had received orders to the con- 
trary.'' In another note, written shortly after the one 
just quoted, we read : '' Ordered to begin telling the 
public the truth about the phenomena and their me- 
diums, and now my martyrdom will begin. I shall 
have all the Spiritualists against me in addition to the 
Christians and the Sceptics. Thy will, oh M., be 
done. H. P. B." 

By a strange coincidence, only a few months after 
Madame Blavatsky 's appearance in America some very 
remarkable spiritualistic phenomena began to manifest 
themselves at the farmhouse of the Eddy famil}^ in 
the town of Chittenden, Vermont. Visitors alleged 
that through the help of William Eddy, one of the two 
illiterate, hard-working brothers who owned the place, 
they could see, and even touch and converse with, de- 
ceased relatives, and that other experiences of an 



Madame Blavatsky s ''his Utiveiled'^ 213 

equally extraordinary character frequently occurred in 
his presence. People soon began to flock to the town 
from all parts of the country. 

Among others to come to the place was Colonel Henry 
S. Olcott, an eminent lawyer of New York, who after a 
careful examination pronounced the phenomena gen- 
uine and wrote extensive descriptions of them for the 
New York Daily Graphic, On reading these reports of 
the so-called *' Eddy ghosts" at Chittenden, Madame 
Blavatsky at once hastened thither, and there met 
the author of the articles in the Daily Graphic, with 
whom she maintained from that time forth the closest 
relations. 

Colonel Olcott opens his recent book. Old Diary 
Leaves ; a True History of the Theosophical Society, with 
this description of their first meeting : " Since I am to 
tell of the birth and progress of the Theosophical So- 
ciety, I must begin at the beginning, and tell how its 
two founders first met. It was a very prosaic incident ; 
I said ' Permettez-inoi, Madame,'' and gave her a 
light for her cigarette ; our acquaintance began in 
smoke, but it stirred up a great and permanent fire '* 

(p- 1)- 

Immediately after the arrival of Madame Blavatsky, 
or H. P. B., as she preferred to be called, the phe- 
nomena at the Eddy homestead underwent a marked 
change in their character. From the small closet in 
which William Eddy secreted himself at the beginning 
of the seances there issued not only the phantoms of 
dead men and women once known in that locality, but 
those of other nationalities, such as a Russian peasant 
girl, a mussulman from Tiflis, a Kourdish cavalier 
vvitli scimitar, pistols, and lance, a hideous negro sor- 
cercr from Africa, and the like. "There was ^nven,** 



214 "The Sphere of Religion 

says Colonel Olcott, '* to every eye-witness a convincing 
proof that the apparitions were genuine '' (p. 8). 

After some days at Chittenden, Madame Blavatsky 
returned to New York. Colonel Olcott soon joined her 
and became one of her most devoted pupils in the study 
of eastern occult religion. Together with a number 
of mutual friends, they formed in 1875 the Theosophi- 
cal Society, of which Colonel Olcott was chosen presi- 
dent, an office w^hich he held to the day of his death in 
1907. The object of the society was to acquaint its 
members with the original occult sources of religion 
and establish a universal brotherhood of man. It took 
for its motto that of the Maharajah of Benares, " There 
is no Religion higher than Truth. ' ^ Madame Blavatsky 
beyond all question was the originator of the new 
movement and its undisputed leader and head. Ac- 
cording to Colonel Olcott, she offered almost daily 
many infallible proofs that she was endowed with 
superhuman powers. 

The following are samples of those he has recorded 
as occurring at this early period of her career in Amer- 
ica : '* Among her callers was an Italian artist, a 
Signor B., formerly a carbonaro. I was sitting alone 
with her in her drawing-room when he made his first 
visit. They talked of Italian affairs, and he suddenly 
pronounced the name of one of the greatest of the 
Adepts. She started as if she had received an electric 
shock ; looked him straight in the eyes and said (in 
Italian), ' What is it? I am ready.* He passed it off 
carelessly, but thenceforth the talk was all about 
Magic, Magicians, Adepts. Signor B. went and opened 
one of the French windows, made some beckoning 
passes toward the outer air, and presently a pure white 
butterfly came into the room, and went flying about 



Madame B lav at sky s ''his Unveiled'' 215 

near the ceiling. H. P. B. laughed in a cheerful way 
and said : ' That is pretty, but I can also do it ! ' She, 
too, opened the window, made similar beckoning 
passes, and presently a second white butterfly came 
fluttering in. It mounted to the ceiling, chased the 
other around the room, played with it now and then, 
with it flew to a corner, and, presto ! both disappeared 
at once while we are looking at them. ' What does 
that mean ? ' I asked. * Only this, that Signor B. can 
make an elemental turn itself into a butterfly and so 
can I.'" 

''One cold winter's night, when several inches of 
snow lay upon the ground, she and I were working upon 
her book until a late hour at her rooms in Thirty-fourth 
Street. I had eaten some saltish food for dinner, and 
about I A.M., feeling very thirsty, said to her, * Would 
it not be nice to have some hot-house grapes ?' So it 
would, ' she replied, ' let us have some. ' ' But the shops 
have been closed for hours and we can buy none,' I 
said. * No matter, we shall have them all the same.' 
was her reply. ' But how ?' ' I will show you, if you 
will just turn down that gaslight on the table in front 
of us.' I turned the cock unintentionally so far around 
as to extinguish the light. ' You need not have done 
that,' she said, ' I only wanted you to make the light 
dim. However, light it again quickly.' Abox of matches 
lay just at hand, and in a moment I had relit the lamp. 
* See !' she exclaimed, pointing to a hanging book sliclf 
on the wall before us. To my amazement there hung 
from the knobs at the two ends of one of the shelves 
two large bunches of ripe Hamburg grapes, which we 
proceeded to eat. To my question as to the agency 
employed, she said it was done by certain elcmcntals 
under her control " (pp. 15-17). 



2 1 6 The Sphere of Religion 

According to the account we have of the matter, 
Madame Blavatsky began writing, quite unconscious of 
the real nature of her task. 

*'One day in the summer of 1875, H. P. B. showed me," 
says Colonel Olcott, '' some sheets of manuscript which 
she had written and said : ' I wrote this last night "by 
order," but what the deuce it is to be I don't know. 
Perhaps it is for a newspaper article, perhaps for a book, 
perhaps for nothing ; anyhow, I did as I was ordered' " 
(p. 202). After he had looked at it she threw the MS. 
into her desk, and nothing more was said about the 
matter until her return from a visit to her friends. Prof, 
and Mrs. Corson of Cornell University, a few months 
later. Encouraged by them, she took up the task of 
writing out what her Masters made known to her, and 
she kept at it with prodigious and unrelenting energy 
until the fall of 1876, when his Unveiled, consisting of 
two large volumes of over 600 pages each, was placed 
in the hands of the printer. 

In a letter to one of her family in Russia quoted by 
A. P. Smnett{Incidents in the Life of Madame Blavatsky, 
pp. 205-206) she says: " When I wrote * Isis,' I wrote 
it so easily that it certainly was no labor, but a real plea- 
sure. Why should I be praised for it ? Whenever I am 
told to write, I sit down and obey, and then I can write 
easily upon almost anything, — metaphysics, psychol- 
ogy, philosophy, ancient religions, zoology, natural 
sciences, or what not. I never put myself the question, 
* Can I write on this subject ? . . . ' or * Am I equal 
to the task,' but I simply sit down and write. Why? 
Because somebody who knows all dictates to me. ... I 
tell you candidly that whenever I write upon a subject 
I know little or nothing of, I address myself to them 
[the Mahatmas], and one of them inspires me ; 2. ^., he 






Madame Blavatskys '' Isis Unveiled'' 2 1 7 

allows me to simply copy what I write from manuscripts 
and even printed matter that pass before my eyes in the 
air, during which process I have never been unconscious 
one single instant. ... It is that knowledge of His 
protection and faith in His power that have enabled me 
to become mentally and spiritually so strong. ' ' 

In another letter to her sister she says : " I certainly 
refuse point-blank to attribute it [the book] to my own 
knowledge or memory, for I could never arrive alone 
at either such premises or conclusions. ... I tell 
you seriously I am helped, and he who helps me is my 
Guru.'* 

Col. Olcott asserts that many pages of the book were 
thus written for her, a *' foreign entity " making use of 
her organism or *' shell" while she was asleep. He 
refers to the beginning of the chapter on the civilization 
of ancient Egypt (vol. i., chap, xiv.) as an illustration 
of the passages composed in this manner. Another large 
partof the subject-matter of Isis, he maintains, could have 
been drawn from no other source than ''from the Astral 
Light ' ' over which she had such a wonderful control. 

The first volume oi Isis Unveiled is devoted to ** Sci- 
ence " and the second to '' Religion," but no one claims 
that either volume has any definite plan or logical ar- 
rangement of material. All admit that many passages 
under "Science" might equally well be put under 
*' Religion" and that many parts of " Religion " might 
more appropriately come in volume i. This is accounted 
for to the satisfaction of Madame Blavatsky's disciples 
by the statement that she wrote down the communi- 
cations as they were made to licr, logical consistency 
not being considered in the matter. 

In the preface to tlie first volume of Isis Unveiled, 
Madame Blavatsky tells us that " when, years ago, we 



2 1 8 The Sphere of Religion 

first travelled over the East, exploring the penetralia 
of its deserted sanctuaries, two saddening and ever- 
recurring questions oppressed our thoughts ; where, 
who, what is God ? Who ever saw the immortal spirit 
of man, so as to be able to assure himself of man's 
immortality ? 

' * It was while most anxious to solve these perplexing 
problems that we came into contact wdth certain men, 
endowed with such mysterious powers and such pro- 
found knowledge that we may truly designate them as 
the sages of the Orient. To their instructions we lent 
a ready ear. They showed us that by combining 
science with religion, the existence of God and im- 
mortality of man's spirit may be demonstrated like a 
problem in Euclid . , , ex nihilo nihil fit ; prove the 
soul of man by its wondrous powers — you have proved 
God.^^ 

*' In our studies," she continues, "mysteries w^ere 
shown to be no mysteries. Names and places that to 
the Western mind have only a significance derived 
from Eastern fable were shown to be realities. Rev- 
erently we stepped in spirit within the temple of Isis, to 
lift aside the veil of * the one that is and was and shall 
be ' at Sais ; to look through the rent curtain of the 
Sanctum Sanctorum at Jerusalem ; and even to inter- 
rogate within the crypts which once existed beneath 
the sacred edifice the mysterious Bath-Kol." 

Following the preface comes a section consisting of 
about forty pages, entitled ' * Before the Veil, ' ' in which 
Madame Blavatsky claims that the present chaotic state 
of aff'airs in all lands on the subject of religion is wholly 
due to the fact that the modem world is unwilling 
to follow the wisdom handed down to us from the 
prehistoric sages of the Far East. 




Madame Blavatskys ''his Unveiled'' 219 

The greatest revealer of divine truths within the 
past twenty-five centuries, she declares, was Plato, and 
he "mirrored faithfully in his works the spiritualism 
of the Vedic philosophers who lived and wrote thou- 
sands of years before his day, and its metaphysical 
expression. Nyasa, Djeming, Kapila, Vrihaspati, Su- 
mati, and so many others will be found to have trans- 
mitted their indelible imprint though the interv^ening 
centuries upon Plato and his school " (p. xi.). 

They all sought for the truly real, the always- 
existing, the permanent as distinguished from the 
fleeting and transitory, and they found it in God as 
the first principle of all principles, the Supreme Idea 
upon which all other ideas are grounded, the ultimate 
substance from which all things derive their being and 
essence. With these sages God is discernible only by 
the elect, by those who have prepared themselves by a 
rigid discipline of the mind and body to receive him. 
*'This," saj'S Madame Blavatsky, **was also the 
teaching of Jesus, one of the greatest of the The- 
osophists, who said to his little circle of chosen dis- 
ciples, * To you it is given to know the mysteries of 
the Kingdom of God, but to them [the uninitiated 
masses] it is not given.' " 

Among the ancient institutions that Madame Blavat- 
sky highly extols are the Eleusinian Mysteries of the 
Greeks. These she regards as the type of all true 
religion, and claims that only those who have passed 
through such an initiation as they prescribe are fitted 
to have *' friendship and interior communication with 
God, and the enjoyment of that felicity which arises 
from intimate converse with divine l^eings.'* 

Many pages of this section of her bo<^k Madame 
Blavatsky devotes to an explanation of tlie unusual 



2 2 o The Sphere of Religion 

terms she makes use of. The following are a few of 
them : ' ' ^throbacy is the Greek name for walking or 
being lifted in the air ; levitation, so-called, among 
modern spiritualists. It may be either conscious or 
unconscious. . . .*' ** Were our physicians to experi- 
ment on such levitated subjects, it would be found that 
they are strongly charged with a similar form of elec- 
tricity to that of the spot which, according to the law 
of gravitation, ought to attract them, or rather prevent 
their levitation. And, if some physical nervous dis- 
order, as well as spiritual ecstasy, produce uncon- 
sciously to the subject the same effects, it proves that 
if this force in nature were properly studied, it could 
be regulated at will." 

** Everything pertaining to the spiritual world must 
come to us through the stars, and if we are in friend- 
ship with them, we may attain the greatest magical 
effects." 

''The Astral lyight is identical with the Hindu 
Akasa. . . . The language of the Vedas shows 
that the Hindus of fifty centuries ago ascribed to it the 
same properties as do the Thibetan lamas of the present 
day. That they regarded it as the source of life, the 
reservoir of all energy, and the propeller of every 
change of matter." '* The Brahmanical expression ' to 
stir up the Brahma,' means to stir up this power. . . . 
This is the evident origin of the Christian dogma of 
transubstantiation/ ' 

" Elemental spirits " are '* the creatures evolved in 
the four kingdoms of earth, air, fire, and water, and 
called by the kabalists gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, 
and undines. They may be termed the forces of na- 
ture, and will either operate effects as the servile agents 
of general law, or may be employed by the disembodied 



Mada^ne Blavatskys ''his Unveiled'' 221 

spirits — whether pure or impure — and by living adepts 
of magic and sorcery, to produce desired phenomenal 
results. Such beings never become men. 
They have been seen, feared, blessed, banned, and in- 
voked in every quarter of the globe and in every age. 
. . . These elementals are the principal agents 
of disembodied but never visible spirits at seances, 
and the producers of all the phenomena except the 
subjective." 

Madame Blavatsky strongly commends the fakirs of 
India, who generally are attached to the Brahmanical 
pagodas and practise the laws of Manu. She says of 
them that they are so genuinely devoted to religion 
that they go about almost naked, carrying only a 
few such objects as a tiny flute for charming ser- 
pents, and a magical bamboo-rod, about a foot long, 
with the seven mystical knots upon it. These they 
conceal in their long hair when they are not in use. 
No fakir will allow any one to take his rod from him, 
because he received it from his guru on the day of his 
initiation, and he produces all of his marvellous occult 
phenomena through its power. The self-imposed pun- 
ishments he inflicts upon himself, such as flaying the 
limbs alive, cutting off the toes or feet, tearing out the 
eyes, immensely hasten the development of his relig- 
ious life. He thus attains such a high degree of saint- 
hood that he will laugh to scorn every imaginable 
torture, persuaded that the more his outer body is 
mortified, the brighter and holier becomes his inner, 
spiritual body. 

Madame Blavatsky makes much of the word ** Her- 
metic," which she defines as coming "from Hermes, 
the god of Wisdom, known in I?gy[>t, vSyria, and 
PlKL-nicia, as Tliot, Tat. Adad, vSctli, Sat an (the latter 



I 



2i2 2 The Sphere of Religion 

not to be taken in the sense applied to it by Moslems 
and Christians), and in Greece as Kadmus/' He is 
known in Egypt as ' ' the friend and instructor of Isis 
and Osiris." 

*' Initiates," according to Madame Blavatsky, meant 
''in times of antiquity those who had been initiated 
into the arcane knowledge taught by the hierophants 
of the Mysteries ; and in our modern days those w^ho 
have been initiated by the adepts of mystic lore into 
the mysterious knowledge, which, notwithstanding the 
lapse of ages, has yet a few real votaries on the earth." 

Before concluding this introduction, Madame Bla- 
vatsky summarizes the two remaining sections of her 
work with the following statement : " In undertaking 
to inquire into the assumed infallibility of Modern 
Science and Theology, the author has been forced, 
even at the risk of being thought discursive, to make 
constant comparison of the ideas, achievements, and 
pretensions of their representatives, wdth those of the 
ancient philosophers and religious teachers. . . . 
We wish to show how inevitable were their innumer- 
able failures, and how they must continue until these 
pretended authorities of the West go to the Brahmans 
and Lamaists of the Far Orient, and respectfully ask 
them to impart the alphabet of true science. ' ^ 

The first of these sections begins with these w^ords : 
''There exists somewhere in this wide w^orld an old 
book, — so very old that our modern antiquarians might 
ponder over its pages an indefinite time, and still not 
quite agree as to the nature of the fabric upon which 
it is written. It is the only original copy now in 
existence. 

' ' The most ancient Hebrew document on occult learn- 
ing — the Siphra Dzeniouta — was compiled from it, and 



Madame Blavatskys '' his Unveiled'' 223 

that at a time when the former was already considered 
in the light of a literary relic.'* 

The following extracts fairly illustrate the character 
and contents of this so-called scientific section of the 
work. *' A conviction founded upon seventy thousand 
years of experience, as they allege, has been entertained 
by Hermetic philosophers of all periods that matter has 
in time become, through sin, more gross and dense than 
it was at man's first formation ; that at the beginning, 
the human body was of a half-ethereal nature ; and that, 
before the fall, mankind communed freely with now 
unseen universes." "The same belief in the pre-ex- 
istence of a far more spiritual race than the one to which 
we now belong can be traced back to the earliest tra- 
ditions of nearly every people. In the ancient Quiche 
manuscript, published by Brasseur de Bourbourg — the 
Popol Vuh, — the first men are mentioned as a race that 
could reason and speak, whose sight was unlimited, and 
who knew all things at once. . . . And the unequi- 
vocal statement of the anonymous Gnostic who wrote 
the Gospel according to John that ' as many as received 
Him,' i.e., who followed practically the esoteric doc- 
trine of Jesus, would ' become the sons of God,' points 
to the same belief. . . . From the remotest periods 
religious philosophies taught that the whole universe 
was filled with divine and spiritual beings of divers 
races. From one of these evolved, in course of time, 
Adam, the primitive man." 

At the outset of the second volume, Madame Blavat- 
sky asserts that every Christian doctrine had its origin 
in a lieathen rite, and says that wliat she undertakes to 
do is " to compare the Christian dogmas and miracles 
with tlie doctrines and phenomena of ancient niai^ic." 

*' Tlicrr ncv'fr was," slic declares, " nor e\ cr will he 



2 24 The Sphere of Religion 

a truly philosophical mind, whether Pagan, heathen, 
Jew, or Christian, but has followed the same line of 
thought. Gautama-Buddha is mirrored in the precepts 
of Christ ; Paul and Philo Judaeus are faithful echoes 
of Plato ; and Ammonius Saccas and Plotinus won their 
immortal fame by combining the teachings of all these 
gr at masters of true philosophy '' (p. 84). 

The subsequent pages of the work attempt to vindi- 
cate this assertion. By copious quotations from the 
writings of a great array of religious leaders, ancient and 
modern, she undertakes to show that all true doctrines 
in religion have come down to us from a pre- Buddhistic 
race of beings, and are not in any sense the product of 
modern thought. 

In order more fully to explain her views, Madame 
Blavatsky followed his Unveiled with another larger 
work, entitled The Secret Doctrine, But as neither 
work sets forth any definite notions as to her positive 
religious beliefs she prepared a hand-book for her dis- 
ciples with the title. The Key to Theosophy. To show 
what modern Theosophy really claims to be, we quote 
a few passages from this work : 

*' Theosophy is Divine Wisdom, such as that possessed 
by the gods." 

** We believe in a Universal Divine Principle, the root 
of All, from which all proceeds, and within which all 
shall be absorbed at the end of the great cycle of Being." 
*' When we speak of the Deity and make it identical, 
hence coeval, with Nature, the eternal and uncreated 
nature is meant." 

' ' An Occultist or a Theosophist addresses his prayer 
to his Father which is in secret . . . and that * Father ^ 
is in man himself." '^ The inner man is the only God 
we have cognizance of. " 



Madame B lav at sky's '' Isis Unveiled'' 225 

''Our philosophy teaches us that as there are seven 
fundamental forces in nature, and seven planes of being, 
so there are seven states of consciousness in which man 
can live, think, remember, and have his being " (p. 89). 

These " seven planes of being " vary all the way from 
that of the rupa or physical body up to the atma or pure 
spirit. 

'' The spiritual ego can act only when the personal 
ego is paralyzed. . . . Could the former manifest 
itself uninterruptedly, and without impediment, there 
would be no longer men on earth, but we should all be 
gods'' (p. 131). By the proper training of his faculties 
man passes from the Lower to the Higher Life in ac- 
cordance with the law of Karma, or '' the universal law 
of retributive justice. ' ' 

*'Theosophy considers humanity as an emanation 
from divinity on its return path thereto. At an advanced 
point upon the path, Adeptship is reached by those 
who have devoted several incarnations to its achieve- 
ment'* (p. 217). 

The chief duty of a Theosophist is ''to control and 
conquer through the higher, the lower self. To purify 
himself inwardly and morally ; to fear no one and 
nought, save the tribunal of his own conscience" 
(p. 241). 

Madame Blavatsky, whose maiden name was Helena 
Petrovna Hahn, was born in the southern part ot 
Russia, of noble and wealthy parents, July 31, 1831. 
She was a bright, excitable, and erratic child, with a 
strength of body far beyond her years. According to 
the recently published letters of her sister, she was 
frequently doing things in the presence of her playmates 
that were beyond the ken of man to understand. 

At sevtMitiH'ii years of age she ni:nrir(l a prominent 
15 



2 2 6 The Sphere of Religion 

councillor of state, but lived with her husband only a 
few weeks, when they separated by mutual consent. 
Entirely dissatisfied with the traditional and formal 
religion of her country, and impelled by a genuine 
desire to know more about the extraordinary religious 
experiences of the Orient, of which she had often heard, 
she left her home and went to India. Although igno- 
rant of the language and customs of the country, she 
spent several years in penetrating almost every nook 
and corner of the Orient in search of ancient mysteries 
and sacred lore. She seems to have been almost wholly 
dependent upon what was told her, and beyond ques- 
tion she was often radically misled by those with whom 
she came in contact. 

In 1 85 1 she visited Quebec to study the Indians in 
that vicinity, and then went to New Orleans to ac- 
quaint herself with the Voodoos. From there she went 
to Mexico and back to Bombay. Later, she made a 
trip around the w^orld, stopping in New York, Chicago, 
and San Francisco, and spending several months in 
Japan. In 1855, after many previous unsuccessful 
attempts, she finally obtained an entrance into Tibet, 
one of the most inaccessible portions of the earth, where 
few, if any, white women had ever before been allowed 
to penetrate. 

In all probability, after some years she was initiated 
by the priests of the country into their sacred mystical 
rites. While in Tibet she fell from her horse dowm a 
steep embankment, receiving injuries w^hich resulted 
in a fracture of the spine. In consequence of this 
accident, it is stated on good authority that she went 
through many strange psychological experiences, and 
for eighteen months led a completely dual existence. 

On leaving Tibet she conceived the idea of founding 



Madame B lav at sky s ''his Unveiled'' 227 

a new religion for the Western world, and she entered 
heart and soul into the undertaking. Starting out with 
the assumption that every founder of a religion must 
work miracles, she often allowed herself to indulge in 
the most barefaced trickery to gain attention to her 
cause. In view of the exposures made by the Society 
for Psychical Research of her performances, none of her 
admirers deny the fact, but they explain it on the basis 
(as one of them expresses it) that any religion, in order 
to grow, must be manured ; that people are so averse 
to a new religious truth that any means of arousing 
their interest in it is legitimate. 

As to the character and value of Madame Blavatsky's 
claims regarding the religions of India, no man is more 
competent to tell us than Max Miiller, the famous 
Oriental scholar of Oxford University. The statements 
that follow are taken almost wholly from his article in 
The Nineteenth Century on *' Esoteric Buddhism," pub- 
lished shortly after Madame Blavatsky's death in 
London in 1891. 

''I am quite willing," he says, '* to allow that 
Madame Blavatsky started out with good intentions, 
that she saw and was dazzled by a glimmering of truth 
in various religions of the world, that she believed in 
the possibility of a mystic union of the soul with God, 
and that she was most anxious to discover in a large 
number of books traces of that theosophic intuition 
which re-unites human nature with the Divine. Un- 
fortunately, she was without the tools to dig for these 
treasures in the ancient literature of the world, and her 
mistakes in quoting from vSanskrit. Greek, and Latin 
would be amusing if they did not appeal to our sym- 
pathy rather for a woman who thought she could fly 
though she had no wings, not even those of Icarus." 



2 28 The Sphere of Religion 

Isis Unveiled Professor Miiller regards as a work of 
prodigious labor and ingenuity, bristling with notes 
and references both wise and foolish, — a monument of 
misdirected energy. The fundamental ideas upon 
which it is based, so far as we can get at them, have 
in point of fact little or no tangible ground. 

Speaking of the pre- Vedic documents and the Mahat- 
mas, of which Madame Blavatsky makes so much, he 
writes : ** When asked for the production of those MSS., 
or for an introduction to these learned Mahatmas — for 
India is not so diflficult to reach as it was in the days 
of Marco Polo, — they are never forthcoming. Nay, the 
curious thing is that real Sanskrit scholars who have 
spent their lives in India, and who know Sanskrit and 
Pali well, know absolutely nothing of such MSS., 
nothing of such teachers of mysteries. They are never 
known except to people who are ignorant of Sanskrit 
or Pali." ''The very idea that there are secret and 
sacred MSS., or that there ever was any mystery about 
the religion of the Brahmans, is by this time thoroughly 
exploded.'' 

*' Madame Blavatsky's powers of creation were very 
great ; whether she wished to have intercourse with 
Mahatmas, astral bodies, or ghosts of any kind. . . . 
So long as she placed her Mahatmas beyond the Hima- 
layas, both she and her witnesses were quite safe from 
any detectives or cross-examining lawyers.'' 

*' But when we come to examine what these deposi- 
taries of primeval wisdom, the Mahatmas of Tibet and 
of the sacred Ganges, are supposed to have taught her, 
we find no mysteries, nothing very new, nothing very 
old, but simply a medley of well-known, though 
generally misunderstood, Brahmanic and Buddhistic 
doctrines." 



Madame Blavatskys ''his Unveiled'' 229 

That there are in India, Mahatmas or " Great Souls/' 
as the word literally signifies, no one doubts. The 
term is applied to men who have retired from the w^orld 
and by long ascetic practices have subdued their pas- 
sions and have acquired a reputation for sanctity and 
knowledge. They often perform startling feats and 
submit themselves to terrible tortures. A few of them 
have distinguished themselves as scholars. 

But, says Professor Miiller, ' ' that some of these so- 
called Mahatmas are impostors is but too well known to 
all who live in India. I am quite ready to believe, there- 
fore, that Madame Blavatsky and her friends w^ere taken 
in by persons who pretended to be Mahatmas, though 
it has never been explained in what language even 
they could have communicated their Esoteric Buddhism 
to their European pupil. Madame Blavatsky was, ac- 
cording to her own showing, quite unable to gauge 
their knowledge or to test their honesty." 

With these facts before us, it does not need any further 
argument to show that no discoverable ground exists 
for the claim that the bible of the Theosophists, or fol- 
lowers of the so-called Wisdom Religion, sets forth *'a 
primeval, preternatural revelation granted to the fathers 
of the human race." It grew up, as we have found all 
other bibles to have done, out of the experiences, real 
or imaginarj^ of man. 

This position does not belittle the fact that every relig- 
ion of to-day is immensely indebted to the religions of 
the past. It is almost impossible to conceive of an ab- 
solutely new religion. At all events, every religion we 
know presupposes an antecedent religion, just as every 
man we know presupposes an antecedent man. No relig- 
ion better illustrates this truth than Christianity. For 
it presupposes Judaism and Greek philosophy, and Juda- 



230 The Sphere of Religion 

ism presupposes the religions of Babylon and Nineveh. 
They in turn reach back to a more ancient Accadian 
religion. Farther our present knowledge will not per- 
mit us to go. 

The Theosophists have undoubtedly carried their 
respect for antiquity entirely too far. They are greatly 
misled by accepting many of the exploded notions of 
the past, but the emphasis they put upon the universal 
brotherhood of man is worthy of the highest regard. 

Since his Unveiled first appeared in New York, the 
Theosophical Society, like every other similar under- 
taking, has had its successes and failures. In 1879, its 
headquarters were moved to Adyar, Madras, India, 
where Colonel Olcott till 1907 presided over its destinies. 
In 1905, he reported that 600 branches of the society 
now exist in forty-two countries. In Ceylon alone he 
tells us the society has 250 schools and three colleges 
with over 30,000 pupils. According to some authorities, 
it has many thousand followers in France, where they 
often call themselves Christian Buddhists. 

The head of the English branch, and the successor of 
Madame Blavatsky, is Mrs. Annie Besant. She is re- 
ported to be one of the most eloquent women of her time. 
Prof, Max Miiller says that when Madame Blavatsky 
went to Oxford to lecture, he was told on good author- 
ity that the students sat and listened to her for six hours 
in succession. A gentleman who w^as present on the 
occasion told the writer that Mrs. Besant had almost 
the same experience when she lectured a few years ago 
to the students in Glasgow. Her article in the Outlook 
for October 14, 1893, entitled, "What is Theosophy?'* 
explains her views. 

There are branches of the society in New York and 
other American cities, but the most successful Raja Yoga 



Madame Blavatskys '' his Unveiled'' 231 

school in this country is probably at Point Loma, Cal., 
which is fully described in the January number of the 
American Magazine for 1907. It is presided over by 
Mrs. Katherine Tingley, a Massachusetts woman who 
was for many years engaged in philanthropic work in 
and about New York. The school is liberally supported 
by a number of wealthy men from diflFerent parts of the 
United States who are now members of the Brotherhood, 
such as A. G. Spalding and F. M. Pierceof New York, 
W. C. Temple of Pittsburg, and W. F. Hanson of 
Georgia. Ex-Secretary Lyman B. Gage, though not 
living in the Brotherhood, resides near it and is 
deeply interested in its work. 

*' Theosophy,'* saysE. D.Walker in the A re7ia (Janu- 
ary, 1893), *' enrolls the founders of all religions — ^Jesus, 
Gautama, Confucius, Zoroaster, and Mahomet. It 
includes the great religious spirits of every age — like 
Swedenborg, Madame Guyon, Saint Martin, and Jacob 
Bohme. Especially notable is the theosophical trend 
of those seers of all times, the poets. Conspicuous just 
now are Browning, Swinburne, Tennyson, Aldrich, 
Whitman. The great philosophers, too, run in the 
same direction. . . . Theosophy regards pure Chris- 
tianity as the best religion for the western world. Jesus 
was an Adept of the highest order — a perfect man, re- 
presenting what we may attain ultimately. But the 
pure fountain has been .so fouled by the church that a 
careful filtering is needed to obtain the crystal water of 
life." 



II 



CHAPTER IV. 

THK RKI.ATION OF THK FINE^ ARTS TO RKIvIGION. 

Art, in the broadest sense of the term, denotes 
simply the use of means for the accomplishment of 
some desired end or purpose. It is not applied to the 
activity or products of nature, although it is closely re- 
lated to those products. Strictly speaking there is no 
picture till man paints it, no music till man makes it, 
no poetry till man composes it. Nevertheless, nature 
furnishes all the material for art to work upon, and is 
the guide of man in its pursuit. 

It is not the mission of any art to invent new ele- 
ments. Its only function is to put the old into new 
forms and combinations. No genius in art, however 
gifted, can add a new species to either the animal or 
vegetable kingdom, or a new aspect to land or sea or 
sky. All any artist can possibly do is to make use 
of the boundless variety of elements that nature has 
already presented to him, and he has neither the ability 
nor the opportunity to transcend these limits. 

For this reason, art must always at first be imitative. 
It is in this sense, and this only, that it is the business 
of art to '' hold the mirror up to nature." Not until 
art has first mastered the material that nature offers 
and discerned its law and method of working, can it go 
forward and reproduce it in new combinations with 
something like the freedom and boldness of nature. 
For she scorns to imitate, and never repeats herself. 
No art can be true to nature, in the proper sense of that 

232 



The Fine A rts and Religion 233 

term, until it has so perfectly acquired a knowledge of 
nature's elements and ways of working that it goes 
infinitely beyond imitation ; until, indeed, the power 
of creating new forms has so developed that all need of 
imitation has ceased to exist. 

For the real artist is not held down by the limitations 
of the individual characteristics of the object before 
him, but he sees the specific or typical in it, and this it 
is that he endeavors to express. The actual in its pre- 
cise historic existence has appeared but once, and will 
never appear again. In its essentials, however, it is 
continually reappearing and ever repeating itself 
Hence it is that the ideal is of far more value than the 
real. As another expresses it, ''There is more truth 
in that which may often be than in that which is known 
to have been but once." Any work of art that tells us 
what has been a thousand times and what may be a 
thousand times again has gained a mastery over the 
actual, and for that very reason captivates the heart. 

All the arts that man has devised are conveniently 
divided into those that minister to his material neces- 
sities or convenience, and those that are intended to 
arouse and satisfy his higher aesthetic powers. The 
former are properly called useful or mechanical arts, 
and their number and variety greatly vary with the 
progress of a people in industry and wealth. The 
latter, because they appeal to and delight the sense of 
beauty, have come to be knowni as the beautiful or fine 
arts in all the languages of modern civilized lands. 
The fine arts are often found in combination with the 
useful arts, but it is usually an easy matter in such 
cases to separate the part that is beautiful from the 
part that merely serves a practical purpose. 

l^y common consent the five priiicijKil fine arts are 



234 T^^^ SpJiere of Religion 

Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Music, and Poetry. 
But how they should be arranged or classified is still 
far from settled. Some would treat them from the 
standpoint of their conformit}^ to nature ; others from 
the point of view of their historical development ; and 
others still from the ps3'chological impulse which called 
them into being. But the classification of Hegel is the 
most satisfactor}^ for our purpose, for he treats them 
from the standpoint of the ideas that they express, and 
the amount of matter that is needed to express them. 
Architecture is therefore the lowest of the fine arts. It 
is primarih' a useful art, and only secondarily a fine 
art. Stone is its most natural material. lyarge quanti- 
ties of it may be used in its constructions, which are 
held together by the great universal force of gravity. 
Massiveness, silent earnestness, immovability, are its 
fundamental characteristics. 

Sculpture is a higher art than architecture. For 
although its chief material is also stone, it advances 
from the inorganic world to the organic. It fashions 
the stone into a bodily form, and makes ever}^ part of 
it a vehicle of thought and feeling. In any genuine 
piece of sculpture there is nothing left of the material 
that does not serve in some way to give expression to 
the thought of the artist. Every part of the Apollo 
Belvedere, for example, breathes forth a magnificent 
defiance and disdain of the enem}^ just as the writer of 
the Iliad depicts him. Even the scarf on his arm is 
instinct with passion. 

With painting the medium is no longer a coarse 
material substance like stone or bronze, but merel}^ a 
plain colored surface ; and 3^et on that surface it can 
represent all the dimensions of space. It expresses its 
ideas and feelings b}' the mere play of light and shade. 



The Fine Arts and Religion 235 

On a small bit of canvas can be compressed a multitude 
of individual forms, each animated with his own char- 
acteristic thoughts, and giving vent to his own peculiar 
passions. 

Music manifests itself through sound alone. It is 
a mode of motion, and motion is the natural language 
of emotion. It arouses the mind to activity through 
the ear, just as architecture and sculpture and paint- 
ing do through the eye. Certain aerial vibrations fall- 
ing upon the auditory nerve give rise to regularly 
varying mental images, called sensations of tone. ' ' Of 
the ten or eleven thousand tones which may be dis- 
tinguished in consciousness, music uses a comparatively 
small number. Our own elaborate musical system in- 
cludes only eighty-five or ninety, ranging from about 
forty to four thousand vibrations per second ; some- 
thing less than seven octaves." Through this exceed- 
ingly limited medium music makes its appeal to all the 
mental powers. For it arouses thought and action, as 
well as feeling. The hearer may be stirred by it to 
form imaginations, retrospections, and resolves as truly 
as emotions and desires. 

Poetry is the tongue of art let loose, so to speak. It 
can represent everything by mere words, and a word is 
a sign or representation of an idea. In a certain sense 
it can make all the other arts contribute to its purpose. 
With the least amount of matter it can communicate 
the greatest variety of ideas, extend itself over the 
greatest range of feeling, and most powerfully affect 
the will. 

Here we need to note the fact and point out in some 
detail its importance to our subject that the fine arts 
descril^ed above, even when carried to the climax of 
their (lcvclo])nK'iit, include onl\' a ])ortion, anil that a 



236 The Sphere of Religion 



small one, of the field of the beautiful. As Plato has 
wisely said, all beauty is the outshining of the truth. 
Wherever any truth shows itself in some concrete form, 
there is beaut}^ All the truth there is in this world 
is manifested to us in the works of God. All beauty, 
therefore, is the expression of his thoughts, and man 
is enabled to express beaut}^ as he gets acquainted with 
those thoughts. The fine arts are merely the attempts 
of man to embody as best he may some of the thoughts 
of God. In other words, every object in the universe, 
whether the product of God or man, is beautiful just in 
proportion as it reveals ideal perfection. 

Matter alone is not beautiful. It is only the idea or 
thought that the matter expresses that is beautiful. 
Hence it is that objects in nature or art are beautiful in 
different degrees. The ideals they represent are of 
higher or lower grades according to the value of the 
elements that enter into their composition. The ideal 
of a human being is higher than that of any animal, 
and the ideal of a tree than that of a pebble. Even one 
Madonna differs from another Madonna in glory. For 
some represent merely the happy mother, while others 
chiefly magnify the sense of relationship to the divine. 
Although any object is beautiful that reveals ideal per- 
fection, the perfection it reveals must be of its own kind, 
and in harmony with its own character. A dog, if 
represented as a dog, is beautiful, but if given the neck 
of a giraffe or the proboscis of an elephant, he becomes 
ridiculous, because fantastic and unreal. For the same 
reason the human form with wings attached to it is ac- 
tually grotesque, although the term angel is often used 
to designate the combination. 

Many limit the beautiful to objects perceivable by the 
senses, but there is no rational basis for such a position. 



The Fine Arts and Religion 237 

Every object is beautiful that reveals in some concrete 
form ideal perfection, and this applies, as Dr. Samuel 
Harris has so ably shown, to human actions as well as 
to material objects. We as properly speak of a beautiful 
character as of a beautiful face or a beautiful sunset. 
We often see manly fortitude or womanly patience 
exhibited under circumstances so adverse that we ac- 
tually do ''behold a spectacle worthy of a God." 
Beauty of spirit is of the same quality as all other beauty, 
and the admiration we have for it is not to be distin- 
guished from any other genuine aesthetic emotion. 

Equally valid is it to speak of the beauty of an argu- 
ment, of a military campaign, of a scheme for social 
advancement. Power of any sort is beautiful when 
properly regulated, as in a perfectly adjusted watch or 
locomotive. Otherwise, it is only a source of fear or 
consternation. Regulated motions are beautiful motions 
because they could, if measured, be described with 
mathematical exactness. They thus represent the ideal, 
and reveal mind. Symmetry is beautiful, because 
founded upon mathematical ratios and proportions ; 
and the curve is the line of beauty not alone, as Max 
Miiller maintained, because the eye can trace a curved 
line with less fatigue than a straight one, but chiefly 
because it deviates at ever}^ point from a straight line ac- 
cording to a law, thus manifesting a controlling plan or 
purpose. Mathematics, having to do with the properties 
of space and time, lies at tlie foundation of all the sci- 
ences. For this reason beauty has well been described 
as the outshining of exact mathematical truth. Noth- 
ing that is at variance with mathematics can be beautiful. 
For no ideal could be formed of such a thing, and it 
could represent no truth. 

The more deeply we go into the subject, tlu- ni.ir.- 



238 The Sphere of Religion 

clearly we see that all beauty in nature and art is nothing 
less than the revelation of spirit to spirit. The joy that 
comes to me from the contemplation of a beautiful ob- 
ject is primarily due to the discovery in the object of 
another mind which is capable of forming ideals such 
as I am capable of forming, and of expressing them in 
such a way that I feel the throb of a kindred spirit. 
When I survey the starry heavens and take in even a 
fraction of the beauty there expressed, the emotion of 
delight arises within me because I am so made that I 
can form some sort of an ideal of such a combination of 
objects, and enter into relationship with the infinite mind 
that created them. I have the same experience, only 
in a less degree, when I stand before the masterpieces 
of Raphael and Michel Angelo. The delight that comes 
to me arises from finding myself enveloped, as it were, 
in their lofty thoughts. 

One of the striking facts about all beautiful objects 
and the joy that comes to us from contact with them, 
is that instead of wishing to conceal them from the sight 
of others, we long to have as many as possible know of 
their existence. We want everybody to have the same 
delightful experience with them that we have had. No 
one who is capable of appreciating a thing of beauty 
wants to destroy it, but to preserve it as a joy forever 
to himself and all his fellows. 

The emotions of a scientific man when at their climax 
urge him to cry out with Archimedes, ' ' Eureka, Eu- 
reka,^' to all within his call. Those of the ethical man 
keep him ever on the alert for the plaudit, ** Well done, 
good and faithful servant. ' ' But the emotions of beauty 
hold their possessor transfixed with a quiet all-absorb- 
ing joy. The mission of a man of science is to pick 
things to pieces in order to find out how they are made. 



The Fine Arts and Religion 239 

and he has the joy of his reward. The student of ethics 
sets forth the goal of future endeavor, and points out 
the means of attaining it, and he has his reward. But 
he who deals with the beautiful brings his works with 
him, and places them on exhibition before you. If you 
actually acquaint yourself with them and take in their 
meaning, you commune with their author as friend 
communes with friend. 

Genuine beauty in all its forms, being based upon 
the recognition of ideal perfection in some concrete act 
or object, is not to be confounded with agreeableness or 
usefulness, much less with mere wonder or surprise. 
The beautiful is the agreeable, but the reverse is not 
always true. A bed or easy chair may be very agree- 
able to a weary man, but they are not beautiful for 
that reason. The same thing may be said of a hungry 
man's experience with a big plate of baked beans or a 
hot mutton chop. Sweet things are agreeable to some 
persons and sour to others. Education makes little if 
any difference in these matters, but it does inmiensely 
affect one's appreciation of the beautiful in nature and 
art. Nearly all of the beautiful things around us con- 
stantly escape our notice for lack of a mind cultured 
enough to detect them. 

Useful things exivSt to serve some ulterior end, but 
things of beauty are an end in themselves. The cob- 
bler forms his shoes into this shape and that in order 
to have somebody wear them. The baker makes his 
bread and cakes in order that somebody may devour 
thcni. But Michel Angelo carved his Moses out of a 
rough block of marble simply to give perpetual joy 
and delight to all beholders who have mental develop- 
ment enough to cutcli the inspiration o{ the divine 
thought that he endeavored to convey. 



2 40 The Sphere of Religion 

Wonder and surprise at the unexpected and the 
extraordinary are perfectly legitimate emotions. Every 
one has experienced them who has witnessed the per- 
formances of a juggler or gazed at some monstrosity in 
a dime museum. But they are not emotions of the 
beautiful. They often accompany such emotions, be- 
cause our obsen^ation of the beautiful things about us 
is so rare that we are usually filled with surprise when 
one is discovered. But if we were thoroughly attuned 
to the thoughts that the universe is capable of express- 
ing, we should never be surprised by the unexpected. 
The freshness and eagerness with which we should 
enjoy every new object of beauty would not, however^ 
be diminished, but greatly enhanced thereby. 

Least of all should the emotion arising from the con- 
templation of the beautiful be confounded with mere 
excitement. Under certain conditions good dramas 
and novels have a decidedly elevating influence upon 
our minds and lives. A drama is essentially a play, 
and, like the play of children, is a representation of 
a life higher than our own; and just as children get 
pleasure and enjoyment b}^ imagining themselves en- 
gaged in the pursuits of men and women, so may 
works of art in the form of a good drama or novel give 
us a vision of life that will greatly enlarge our con- 
ceptions of heroism, and of beauty and grace. But 
when these are read or witnessed on the stage merely 
for the excitement of the moment, simply to have the 
feelings wrought up to their highest intensity, the 
mind loses all its power for aesthetic enjoyment, and 
soon becomes a hopeless victim of the intoxication 
habit. In such a condition nothing but a blood-and- 
thunder novel or a bull-fight will suffice. 

The close relationship of all genuine aesthetic emo- 



The Fine Arts and Religion 241 

tion to the sublime needs here to be pointed out, and 
cannot be too strongly emphasized. In fact, sublimity 
is the same as beauty, only it is beauty greatly ex- 
panded or enlarged. When a beautiful scene unfolds 
itself beyond our capacity to comprehend it and leads 
us up to the infinite, it is something more than grand — 
it is sublime. Any object, however trivial, may lead 
us to the sublime, if we are capable of comprehending 
its significance. For every door, however small, opens 
into the Infinite. A pebble on the seashore ordinarily 
attracts little attention, but if we reflect upon the 
titanic forces that have conspired through countless 
ages and with ceaseless persistency to produce it, we 
cannot help being stirred in some degree by the sub- 
limity of the thought. A moonlit night on the Acrop- 
olis is beautiful, but the thought of all the starr>^ 
hosts of heaven, arranged system upon S3\stem, with 
their immense distances and masses, all moving in ac- 
cord with a common law, suggests an ideal that the 
imagination of man finds it impossible to portray. All 
one can do is to stand with head uncovered in the very 
presence of the Infinite. When the emotion of beauty 
rises into sublimity, as in such an experience as this, 
the mind cannot help being filled with awe and rever- 
ence for a greatness that transcends all finite powers. 

This exposition of the fundamental nature of beauty 
makes the relation of the fine arts to religion a most 
vital one, and the soundness of this view is strikingly 
confirmed by an appeal to history. For art and re- 
ligion are both as old as civilization itself, and their 
connection can be traced in many countries and under 
conditions most diverse. We always find that they 
spring up together, that they develop together, and 
that they decline together. A brief .survey of the 



242 The Sphere of Religion 

origin and history of the principal fine arts will make 
this evident. 

Architecture is not only the most elementary of the 
fine arts, but it is also, so far as relics go, much the 
oldest. The only works of man in far distant ages 
that have been able to survive the ravages of time are 
the temples of the gods and the tombs of kings, their 
supposed ambassadors. The ruins of these first concrete 
expressions of the religious ideas and sentiments of the 
people are found in almost every part of the globe. 

Some of the most important of these ruins are in 
the valley of the Nile. The solid limestone pyramids 
of Ghizeh are still among the most colossal works of 
man ; that of Cheops covering an area of thirteen acres 
and reaching a height of four hundred and eighty feet. 
These royal shrines date as far back as 3500 B.C., and 
are in marked contrast with the abodes of the people, 
which were probably but one or two stories in height, 
and built of wood and sunburnt brick. The two great 
architectural caverns of surpassing magnificence at Ip- 
sambul cut in the solid rock are the remains of temples, 
and so are the colossal ruins at Karnak. In Assyria, 
as in Egypt, the most ancient structures are temples, 
some of them dating back, according to our best 
scholars, much beyond 2000 B.C. The first great per- 
manent structure in Jewish history was Solomon's 
temple, dating about 1000 B.C. 

Although the beginnings of Greek architecture are 
veiled in obscurity, its most ancient ruins now extant 
are the temple at Corinth, erected about 650 b. c, and 
the temple at Selinus, in Sicily, of the same period. 
The great classic models of architecture of to-day are 
the temples of Zeus at Olympia and of Athene on the 
Acropolis, to say nothing of the Parthenon and others 



The Fine Arts and Religion 243 

of lesser note scattered here and there over Greece. 
The Romans were not an original people. In their 
early history they followed the Etruscans, to whom 
they owe the arch and vault. Later, Greek artists 
took possession of the field, and the Pantheon of 
Agrippa is the noblest of their works. 

The oldest remains of the fine arts in China and 
India are temples and pagodas. In the new world the 
oldest as well as the best specimens of native art are 
the architectural ruins among the Mayas of Central 
America. Of these Dr. Brinton, probably the highest 
authority on such matters, does not hesitate to say that 
'* there is no doubt but that the destination of most of 
these structures was for religious or ceremonial pur- 
poses, and not as dwellings.'' 

When the early Christians were permitted to erect 
suitable places of worship for themselves, a new archi- 
tecture, based upon the basilica, sprang into being. It 
is known as the Byzantine architecture, and it reached 
its culmination about the middle of the sixth century 
in the church at Constantinople dedicated by Justinian 
to the Divine Wisdom, now miscalled St. Sophia. This 
is ''by many considered to be internally the most 
beautiful church ever erected " (A. D. F. Hamlin). 
The famous St. Mark's Cathedral at Venice, modelled 
after the Church of the Apostles at Constantinople 
long ago demolished by the Mohammedans, is another 
brilliant example of the Byzantine style. 

As Christianity vSpread through western and northern 
Europe, another form of architecture was developed to 
meet its growing needs. Though varying in details 
according to locality, it is marked by certain common 
characteristics to which the name of romanesque is 
now applied. The lyombard churches of northern 



2 44 ^^^^ Sphere of Religion 

Italy, the magnificent abbeys of the Rhenish provinces, 
and the cathedrals at Durham, Peterborough, and St. 
Albans, in England, are among the best products of 
this style. 

Later, when enthusiasm for a still worthier expres- 
sion of the religious sentiments of the age made its 
appearance, romanesque architecture was developed 
into the gothic. The thirteenth and fourteenth cen- 
turies became the cathedral era par emi7ience. For 
nothing like it has ever been seen in history, or is likely 
to be. The works of this period still remain the master- 
pieces of modern architecture, — such as the cathedrals 
of Amiens, of Rouen, of Rheims in France ; of Milan 
and Assisi in Italy ; of Toledo and Seville in Spain ; of 
Strassburg and Cologne in Germany ; and of Lincoln 
and Salisbury in England. 

The gothic cathedral in its infinite diversity of de- 
tails was a miniature representation of the heaven of 
the medieval imagination. Even hobgoblins, vampires, 
and other denizens of the lower world were pressed into 
servdce as waterspouts to show that devils also must 
contribute, however unwillingly, to the glory of the 
Most High. Many persons competent to have an 
opinion upon the subject would fully agree with Comte, 
a great opponent of Christianity, when he says : 
'^The ideas and feelings of man's moral nature have 
never found so perfect expression in form as they found 
in the noble cathedrals of cathoUcism." The highest 
specimens of architecture in our own day in all lands 
are not theatres, or public halls, or private dwellings, 
but temples and churches, and it would certainly be a 
mark of great degeneration if such should cease to be 
the case in the future. 

When we turn to sculpture, w^e find that it originated 



The Fine Arts and Religion 245 

in the same way as architecture, and has had a similar 
history. Its first office was to embellish and adorn the 
abodes of the gods. The earliest sculpture known to his- 
tory is perhaps that found in the ancient temples and 
shrines of Egypt, and the clumsy massive strength that 
characterizes it is derived from the sombre stolidity of 
the religion that it attempts to represent. Assyrian 
and Babylonish sculpture has similar characteristics 
and for the same reason. It is formal, conventional, 
and symbolic, lacking in subtlety and progressive 
development. 

But the Greeks had a decidedly different conception 
of their deities, and this accounts for the fact that 
their sculpture took on such varied and elastic forms. 
They thought of their gods as social beings like them- 
selves, and lived on familiar terms with them. Ever}'- 
where before their time the gods were largely the 
product of superstitious fears, and the source of a 
multitude of malign influences that must be evaded or 
doggedly endured. To the Greeks these superhuman 
beings are most enjoyable personalities, having all the 
powers and attractions imaginable to man. Hence 
their ideals of them were their highest poetic creations, 
and they freely endeavored to depict them with all pos- 
sible skill and grace. As another expresses it, ''The 
freedom of Homer in poetry became the freedom of 
Phidias in sculpture." 

A Greek statue was not an idol to be valued simply 
for its sanctity, but a real work of art to be admired for 
its inherent beauty. This is why the Greeks went so 
imperceptibly from the divine to the human, from the 
gods of Olympia to the victors of the Isthmian games. 
They understood and felt the beautiful .so keenly 
that wherever they found it, wliether in gods, or 



246 The Sphere of Religion 

men, or even animals, they identified it with the 
divine. 

Nor were they so sensuous in their sculpture as those 
that came after them, or so fond of the nude as is com- 
monly supposed. To them Venus was not a symbol of 
voluptuousness, but the combined expression of wisdom 
and love. Careful students tell us that among them 
*' fifty works in drapery were found for every nude 
statue. ' ' After two thousand years they still remain 
unrivalled for such marvellous representations of their 
gods and goddesses as the Zeus and Pallas by Phidias, 
the Venus de Medici^ probably copied from Praxiteles, 
the Niobe group by Scopas, the Farnese Bull and the 
Torso of Hercules by ApoUonius, not to mention such 
masterpieces as the Veyius de Milo and the Apollo 
Belvedere. 

The Romans, because they conceived of their gods 
less vividly and felt their infiuence less keenl}'^, failed 
for the most part as sculptors, and were chiefly depen- 
dent upon the Greeks. Occasionally an Emperor like 
Hadrian appeared who had a genuine appreciation of 
sculpture, and did what he could to cultivate it ; but 
every effort was powerless to stay its general decline, 
and by the time of Constantine it had lost its former 
glory. 

Then for a thousand years, although Christianity had 
gained control of the civilization and power of the world, 
sculpture remained quiescent, because the religion of 
that period opposed everything that pertained to the 
ancients, and made such a distinction between the di- 
vine and the human that all art of every kind was robbed 
of its nobleness and power. Only scenes of suflFering, of 
ascetic privation, of voluntary torture, were regarded as 
proper objects of religious contemplation. 



The Fine Arts and Religion 247 

But when these views began to give way to more 
rational conceptions of the relation of man to God and 
of this world to the world to come, the era of cathedral 
building broke out with unwonted power, and sculpture 
was again called back into service. To it was assigned 
the work of ornamenting altars and pulpits and screens, 
and of devising all sorts of figures for the appropriate 
embellishment of capitals, portals, and facades. 

As the knowledge of ancient art increased, the church 
called for the highest qualities of workmanship in this 
art. Nicola Pisano carved his remarkable pulpits at 
Pisa and Siena ; Lorenzo Ghiberti wrought his famous 
gates for the baptistery at Florence ; Donatello produced 
his Anmcnciation in the Church of Santa Croce ; and 
Michel Angelo, the first pre-eminent representative of 
modern sculpture, brought out his Moses, his David^ 
and his monuments to the Medici. Since Angelo's 
time the most notable works, like those of Canova, for 
example, have been mythological in their character, 
or monuments embodying some religious ideal. Even 
Thorwaldsen has been rightly called a * ' posthumous 
Greek." 

Sculpture to-day gets its chief inspiration directly or 
indirectly from the religious masterpieces of the past, 
and it is not at all likely that any high art in this direc- 
tion will appear in the future that sets them at naught. 
A piece of sculpture, even of an animal or a flower, must 
represent what we believe a god would think of it, if it 
is going to satisfy the intellect and delight the heart. 

Although painting in its developed form is one of the 
more modern of the fine arts, yet like sculpture it first 
arose in coiniection with ancient architecture, and for 
many centuries it was almost wholly employed in dec- 
orating tombs and temples. The ancient Egyptians 



248 The Sphere of Religion 

colored everything, even hard stones like granite and 
basalt. The remains of painting in Babylonia and 
Assyria are very scanty, and so they are among the 
Greeks, but it is not generally supposed that they carried 
the art to a high degree of excellence, although some 
glowing eulogies of their work have come down to us 
from their contemporaries. 

During the decline of the Roman Empire, the early 
Christians were the only ones to manifest any vital in- 
terest in this art. They began to develop it in the 
catacombs, their subterranean places of worship, the 
walls of which they covered with rudely delineated 
images of the fish, the anchor, and the cup. For several 
centuries after the time of Constantine their work in 
mosaics had considerable merit. Painting during the 
Byzantine Empire is chiefly known to us in illuminated 
manuscripts. 

In the Middle Ages painting on the walls of churches 
was common, but it was mainly decorative in character. 
Not until after the great era of cathedral building of 
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries did painting 
reach a high degree of perfection. And the chief thing 
that brought it forward was the great demand for the 
proper adornment of churches, monasteries, oratories, 
and other buildings devoted to religious uses. The 
universal feeling was that every altar must have an 
altar-piece, every chapel must be embellished with illus- 
trations of the life and miracles of the saint to whom it 
was dedicated, every refectory must have a picture of 
the Last Supper. 

Some of the forei:unners of this movement were 
Cimabue, Giotto, and Fra Angelico, but it reached the 
full tide of its power in such works as the paintings of 
the Sistine Chapel by Michel Angelo, the Trans^gura- 



The Fine Arts and Religion 249 

tion by Raphael in the Vatican palace, and Leonardo 
da Vinci's Last Supper at Milan. 

The unrivalled pre-eminence of these masters is due 
not only to the fact that they possessed unusual technical 
skill, and exercised great freedom and boldness in the 
formation of their ideals, but chiefly because they clung 
tenaciously to the loftiest subjects that could engage 
their powers. The relations of the human to the divine 
inspired their imagination and persistently absorbed 
their thought. Murillo painted the Immaculate Con- 
ception twenty-five times before he was willing per- 
manently to abandon the theme. Raphael's Sistijie 
Madonna at Dresden is said to be the fortieth in a list of 
forty-eight, but who can ever look upon this mar\^ellous 
representation of the Virgin Mother and her won- 
drous child wdthout being stirred to the depths of his 
being with the emotions of gratitude and awe ? 

Painting, like any other art, can degenerate. Nor is 
it always used to ennoble and inspire. There are acres 
of canvas in the galleries of Europe that have anything 
but an uplifting and spiritualizing influence. Painting 
has often been the servile minister of superstition and 
lust, the lust debasing the superstition, and the super- 
stition sanctifying the lust. Such are nearly all the 
representations of the nude in art in our day. For no 
one in modern society is accustomed to see virtue and 
nobleness exhibited in such a state, or would take 
delight in beholding a member of his family or any 
one he loved and admired held up to public gaze void 
of appropriate attire. What wonder that copies of such 
paintings speedily find their way to drinking saloons 
and haunts of vice ? 

It is the mission of the painter not merely to paint, 
but to paint something that is worthy of continued con- 



2 50 The Sphere of Religion 

templation, that inspires noble and lofty thoughts. It 
does not matter so much what the object painted is, 
as how the painter causes the beholder to regard it. 
lyandseer has taught the world that animal life repre- 
sented in its true spirit is far nobler, far more divine, 
than higher life protrayed with only moderate power. 
Every visible scene and object can be regarded approxi- 
mately as God regards it, and when we see it so depicted 
by the artist, we commune with God by sharing with 
him one of his thoughts. Only thus can any art be 
brought to reveal its true glory, and mankind be per- 
petually inspired and blessed thereby. 

Music in its most elementary form probably originated 
in the rhythmic marking of time for the dance at a re- 
ligious festival in honor of some god or goddess. For 
untold centuries it made little or no progress, and only 
within the last three or four hundred years has it ac- 
tually become a fine art and reached a high degree of 
development. All historical records and still existing 
monuments of antiquity show that architecture, sculp- 
ture, and painting rose practically to the climax of 
their power long before music attained any special 
eminence. It remained an enigma, even to the most 
brilliant periods of ancient civilization and intellectual 
culture. Not till near the close of the Middle Ages 
did any master mind appear to reveal its long hidden 
beauties or discover and systematize its fundamental 
truths. 

As a matter of fact, the demand for music of a high 
order was not called into being until the magnificent 
cathedrals had been completed, and their niches and 
altar-pieces had been properly adorned. Then a mighty 
longing arose for a voice that could translate all this 
sublimity into sound, and utter its aspirations in a 



The Fine Arts and Religion 251 

manner befitting the place and the new conditions. 
The bell-chimes from the tower, however sweet and 
far-reaching they might be, were only a call to prayer. 
Something else must be found that would give appro- 
priate expression to the prayer itself. 

Such a medium was discovered in the organ. Con- 
sequently it was greatly enlarged in its proportions and 
powers. Soon vaulted roof and clustered column and 
storied wall, even the very crypt itself, were resounding 
with a symphony of sweet sounds to the glory of the 
Almighty. In connection with the organ, all known 
musical instruments w^ere called into requisition, and 
others invented to swell the volume of praise and adora- 
tion. Every form of musical composition was carried 
to its highest perfection to satisfy, if possible, the 
religious requirements of the age. 

Music in the service of religion has passed through 
four stages : — i. The rhythmic, like that of the Indian 
war-dance of to-day ; 2. The melodic, made up of va- 
riations upon a single theme, like the music of the 
Oriental and Asiatic nations of ancient and modem 
times ; 3. The harmonic, consisting of several co- 
existing melodies, which chiefly characterized the 
music of the Middle Ages ; and 4. The symphonic, 
a succession of harmonies with constantly varying 
themes, the music of the most highly cultured nations 
of our own time. It is the opinion of many that this 
development has already been carried so far as to leave 
little room for further discovery either in its scientific 
principles or practical application, but of the truthful- 
ness of this position there is room for doubt. 

Music is the art of sensibility par excellence. In 
modern times it has become an instrument of over- 
|X)wering significance. "Music," says Ilaweis, "is 



252 The Sphere of Religion 

pre-eminently the art of the nineteenth century, be- 
cause it is in a supreme manner responsive to the 
emotional wants, the mixed aspirations, and the pas- 
sive self-consciousness of the age " {Music and Morals, 
p. i). It is peculiarly the disinterested art, and that 
fact qualifies it for its high religious mission, making it 
so essential to the adequate expression of reverential 
awe, heartfelt thanksgiving, and genuine praise. 

At the same time it has to be admitted that music, 
just because it is capable of traversing the entire key- 
board of our desires, may be employed to arouse base 
and sensual ambitions as well as those that elevate and 
inspire. It is hardly too much to say with another 
that *'it can be impressed with equal felicity in the 
service of church or tavern.'' Nevertheless, its great 
masters have always been those who have used it as a 
powerful, uplifting influence, who have evoked its aid 
to elevate our thoughts and feelings to the Infinite. 
Otherwise, the Bachs, the Handels, the Haydens, the 
Beethovens, the Chopins, and the Brahmses of history- 
would not be ranked with the Michel Angelos, the 
Raphaels, the Dantes, the Miltons, and the Tennysons 
as among the great ennobling forces of the world. 

The beginnings of poetry in all probability first 
showed themselves, as with music, in connection with 
the rhythmic motions of the religious dance. It is 
almost inevitable that words uttered in accompaniment 
to the dance should partake of its rhythmic character. 
So far as all historic records go, the oldest forms of 
literature of any considerable extent in all languages 
were odes to the gods. At these primitive religious 
festivals all the principal forms of poetry were gradually 
developed. The epic poem recounted the doings of 
the gods and the exploits of heroic men, their chief 



The Fine Arts and Religion 253 

earthly representatives. The lyric poem gave voice to 
the thoughts and feelings that these mighty acts in- 
spired. The drama set forth in vivid and concrete 
form for the edification of the beholders some particular 
series of events in which the gods played the principal 
r61es, and thus displayed their superior wisdom and 
power. 

It is no exaggeration to say that out of these humble 
beginnings have arisen all of the great poetic composi- 
tions of the world. The Rig- Veda consists chiefly of 
hymns to the gods, and is the foundation upon which 
the Mahabharata, the great epic of the Hindus, is based. 
The Iliad of Homer had a similar origin. It gathers 
up all the great features of the polytheistic faith of the 
ancient Greeks, and was treated by them with all the 
reverence of Holy Writ. Vergil's ^neid performed a 
like mission for the ancient Romans. Milton's Paradise 
Lost and Dante^s Divine Comedy grew up under similar 
conditions, and still remain the great standard epics of 
modern times. No more recent poet has felt equal to 
the task of surpassing them, and, besides, the novel 
has in our day usurped their place in the popular 
demand. 

When we turn to lyric poetry, we find nothing in 
any language that can compare with the psalms and 
hymns of the Christian church for awakening in man 
profound emotions and arousing lofty thoughts. And 
this has been true of the hymns of every religion in 
every age of the world, and in every stage of civiliza- 
tion. The historic fact is that both tragedy and 
comedy originated in connection with the worship of 
the god Dionysus, the frivolity of the latter being 
the natural reaction from the seriousness of the fonner. 
The very term, tragedy, comes from the Greek word 



2 54 ^^^ Sphere of Religion 

for goat, and arose either from the fact that a goat was 
sacrificed at the festivals of this god, or because the 
actors who danced around the altar chanting songs in 
his honor partially clad themselves in the skins of this 
animal. The great tragic poets of the ancient world, 
as ^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, took such high 
subjects as Prometheus Bound, the punishment of 
CEdipus, and the sacrifice of Iphigenia for their themes. 
For nothing less than the doings of a god, or some 
other being elevated above the level of humanity, could 
stir their powers to their best effort, or satisfy the 
demands of those who were to listen to and criticise 
their products. 

The Athenian tragedy was not a mere amusement, 
but a serious religious function. Aristotle says in his 
Poetics that its mission was to purify the passions of 
pity and fear, as he thought this was the natural 
reaction from seeing them carried to excessive indul- 
gence on the stage. It not only originated in a popu- 
lar religious festival, but it became the vehicle of 
the deepest religious thoughts and ideals of the people. 
When it ceased to fulfil this function, it lost its vital- 
ity, and disappeared as an important factor in their 
lives. 

No drama in our own day attains a high degree of 
excellence that does not appeal to that in man which is 
above himself, and in some effective way arouse his 
ambition to act in a manner worthy of a being possessed 
of godlike powers. Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller, 
Racine, and others who attained great eminence in 
this art in their day, held undisputed sway over the 
minds of men, because they depicted in a masterful 
manner the eternal value of truth and righteousness, 
the corner-stones of religion, to the welfare and happi- 



The Fine Arts and Religion 255 

ness of man. And this remains to-day the secret of 
their continued supremacy in this field. 

Thus we see that the actual history of the fine arts 
teaches us the common lesson that they all spring out 
of man's powers to search for ideal perfection, and that 
their mission is to elevate him to the divine. So long 
as the human soul yearns after the perfect and the in- 
finite, so long it will seek to embody its ideals in the 
forms of art. The seriously-minded Puritan scowled 
upon the beautiful as a lovely devil, because he thought 
it the enemy of religion. He did not see that it is in 
reality its handmaid and friend. In point of fact, there 
is no high art without religion, and no high develop- 
ment of religion without art. For art is the high 
priest of nature, and nature is the manifestation of the 
divine. 

Art is the concrete expression of some of God's 
thoughts, as they are suggested to us in the things 
that are made. It is, therefore, indispensable to man 
in his effort to understand the meaning of the universe. 
Without it he cannot see the harmony there is in it, or 
realize in any effective way its rational purpose. If we 
were fully attuned to the beauty that lies all about us, 
revelation would be as natural as breathing. *'The 
whole thought of art," says Phillips Brooks, '' must be 
enlarged and mellowed, till it develops a relation to 
the spiritual and moral natures, as well as the senses 
of mankind." 

We should never speak of art for art*s sake, but ot 
art for man's sake, to acquaint him with the actual 
meaning of things, and bring him into conscious and 
joyful accord with his Maker. 



CHAPTER V. 

KBUGIOX THE KZY TO HISTORY. 

GuizOT on one of the first pages of his History of 
Civilizatio7i makes the following remarkable assertion : 
** At all times, in all countries, religion has assumed the 
glory of having civilized the people. " ' To what extent 
and in what sense this is a true statement it is the pur- 
pose of this chapter to point out. 

In the first place we need to note that the time has 
gone by when we can speak of the history of religion as 
something distinct from general histon.'. This view has 
always had many advocates. It was held by Eusebius, 
the father of church history. Augustine taught it in 
his great work, The City of God, and the position was 
universally maintained by the churches of ancient and 
medieval times. 

The Catholic churches of our own day still regard it 
as the correct view. God, they maintain, has endowed 
his people with an infallible doctrine, has placed over 
them infallible leaders, and has established a course of 
action that is to go on unchanged to the end of time. 
They admit, to be sure, that the church is not wholly 
out of relation to the rest of history, but they insist that 
its affairs are aflFected by secular history only in the 
most casual and superficial way, agitating at times per- 
haps its outermost borders, but never extending to its 
centre or core. 

Xor did the Protestants of the sixteenth century- in 



Religion the Key to History 257 

reality give up this view. They rejected, it is true, the 
idea that the external rites and government of the 
church are of supernatural origin. But the spiritual 
church, which they made so much of, the church within, 
they regarded as in a special sense divine. They recog- 
nized two distinct kinds of events in the world, just as 
the ultra-orthodox do in the Protestant churches of to- 
day, the miraculous and non-miraculous, the superna- 
tural and the natural, the sacred and the profane. This 
universe to them was not what it is to the thinkers of 
to-day, one great and orderly universe, — what Sir 
Oliver Lodge calls "a single undeviating law-satu- 
rated cosmos." They had no inkling of the thought 
that all of the events of history are regulated accord- 
ing to the one principle of unity and uniformity, and 
that there is no possible ground for regarding them as 
two-fold. 

*^It was in the seventeenth century," says Prof. 
Hamack in his address at the St. Louis Exposition in 
1904, ''that certain enlightened spirits first shook off 
this wrong notion. The eighteenth century further 
developed the knowledge thus won ; in the nineteenth 
it was partly obscured again, but in the end it held its 
own. We can now say : The history of the Church is 
part and parcel of universal history, and can be under- 
stood only in connection with it." Our real inquir>^ 
then, is, what is this connection ? How has the relictions 
element in history affected the other elements, and how 
is it likely to affect them in the future ? 

History, as the term is used in our day, is concerned 
with all the past doings and experiences of man. It 
traces out the rise and progress of culture and civiliza- 
tion in all its various branches. But in the narrower 
sense it confines itself to the ongoings of naticMis. It 



258 The Sphere of Religion 

deals with their internal progress and their mutual re- 
lations. In other words, it is identical with political 
history. It is chiefly in this sense that the term is used 
here. For, as another has well said, * ' on the way in 
which men are formed into communities everything else 
that happens and all development depends." Our in- 
quiry then is, what efiect has religion had upon the 
growth and expansion ol the body -politic in the past, 
and what have we every reason to expect will be its in- 
fluence in the future ? 

As far back as we can trace the internal development 
of any tribe or nation, we always find that to renounce 
the gods of the country was equivalent to giving up all 
allegiance to that country. In Babylonia and in Egypt 
it was not thought possible for a foreigner to become a 
citizen, but in Greece, where it could sometimes be done, 
the most important act leading to it was the adoptipn 
of the worship of the Greek gods. In case one country 
subdued another, it was assumed that the god of the 
conquering country had adopted into his family the god 
of the people conquered. This extension of territory by 
a nation did not, however, do away with the local wor- 
ship or affect the position of the gods who presided over 
the destinies of other nations. 

When the Assyrians subjugated the kingdom of Israel 
and deported great numbers of its inhabitants, the col- 
onists who were sent to take their places did not bring 
their Assyrian cult with them, but sought out the pro- 
tection and care of Jahveh or Jehovah, the god of the 
place. In all the conquests of the Romans, they re- 
garded the religions of the countries they conquered as 
permanent institutions, and did not consider it as within 
their mission to disturb local ceremonies and rites. 

The first people to refuse to adopt the religion of 



Religion the Key to History 259 

the country in which they found themselves were the 
ancient Hebrews. When they were deported to Baby- 
lonia, many of them still kept up the worship of Jahveh. 
This was the beginning of a new and larger conception 
of religion, — namely, that it was superior to and could 
not be upset by changes in locality or political condition. 
The Jewish people were, to be sure, slow in adopting 
this conception. It was a great shock to them when 
told by Isaiah and Jeremiah that Jahveh could survive 
the destruction of the Holy City and would even help 
in its downfall if his people continued in their sins. For 
many centuries the majority of the Hebrews clung to 
the idea that a religious life was inseparably connected 
with political organization. It was not until the coming 
in of Christianity that the idea of the universal character 
of religion began to prevail. 

But even Christianity could not practically carry out 
its theory that religion is superior to all forms of politi- 
cal organization. When it became the official religion 
of the Roman Empire, the old idea of the inseparable 
union of religion with political organization came vig- 
orously to the front, and never in ancient times was it 
carried to greater extremes than during the Middle Ages. 

The events of the Protestant Reformation did not 
essentially change this situation. Luther disbelieved 
in the political claims of the church of his day, as well 
as in the religious claims of monastic life, but in their 
place he strongly advocated the inalienable and divine 
right of princes and kings. He regarded it as the chief 
mission of the civil power to wrest from the papacy its 
usurped prerogatives and take them to itself. Both by 
temper and by circumstances he was a strong supporter 
of the divine authority of those who rule. 

*' Luther," says the Cambridge Modern History 



2 6o The Sphere of Religion 

(vol. iv., p. 741), ''not only did not arrest, he actively 
assisted the development of the princely authority ; he 
asserted its divine ordination and universal competence ; 
he proclaimed the duty of enduring tyranny as God's 
punishment for sins ; nor can it be said that he showed 
any sympathy for representative institutions. A com- 
pact territory governed by a religious autocrat, with 
family life well ordered, was his ideal.'* 

For two centuries after the outbreak of the Reforma- 
tion, politics continued to become more and more theo- 
cratic. The undue value attached to the Old Testament 
was chiefly the cause of it. Even Grotius interpreted 
the passage in the fifty-first Psalm : ' ' Against thee, 
thee only, have I sinned," as clear proof of the 
irresponsibility of kings. 

The uprising of the peasants and the temporary suc- 
cess of the Anabaptists at Miinster compelled the re- 
formers to take the extreme view that the church, as 
a visibly organized body, was merely a necessary evil. 
The state was to them the one divine institution, and 
damnation was the penalty for attempting to resist it. 
Their purpose was by no means to minimize religion 
or to make it play a secondary part to politics. On the 
contrary, their chief motive was to exalt it. What 
they desired to do was to overthrow the existing form of 
religion, and they took the most efl&cient way in their 
time of doing it. 

They had no thought of grounding the state upon 
the doctrine of Hobbes, that the natural condition of 
man is that of incessant war; that only a "leviathan 
power ' ' could stay the clash of individual wills and 
thus bring peace and order out of chaos. Nor did they 
agree with Machiavelli, whose ideal prince was Cesare 
Borgia, maintaining himself by any means in his power. 



Religion the Key to History 261 

regardless of the welfare of his subjects or the principles 
of morality. Their standard was that of the theocratic 
kings of the Old Testament. And every monarch who 
did not carry out their views, they denounced as doing 
evil in the sight of God, and not good. All their 
political doctrines were adopted in order to enlarge 
what they considered to be the true sphere of religion, 
not to belittle its power. 

Interesting and valuable illustrations of how religion 
lay at the foundation of all the struggles of this period 
for the supremacy of the state are found in Catholic 
lands, as well as in Protestant. When the Doge of 
Venice, in the early years of the seventeenth century, 
started out to arrest canons of the church for flagrant 
immoralities, to limit the number of churches, to pass 
laws restraining gifts in mortmain and the like, Pope 
Paul V. placed the country under a ban and excom- 
municated the Doge and the Senate. This he did on 
the ground that by the sacred doctrine of the ' ' pleni- 
tude of power " of the Pope, priests were supreme over 
princes. But the Venetians rose up in their might and 
vigorously asserted ''the natural right given by God 
to the state.'' The result was that Pope Paul had 
eventually to give way, and from that day to this the 
efforts of his successors to re-establish themselves as 
king of kings and lord of lords have been for naught. 

Most of the early reformers carried their doctrine of 
the divine right of kings to such an extreme that they 
freely admitted not only the right but the duty of sov- 
ereigns to persecute. The Religious Peace of Augs- 
burg, made in 1555, gave to each prince the right to 
choose between the Roman Catholic faith and the 
Augsburg Confession, and to expel those of his sub- 
jects who differed from him in reliL^ion. That is. each 



262 The Sphere of Religion 



government was empowered to choose the creed of its 
subjects, and no one in any matter was ever to resist a 
legitimate monarch. Nearly a hundred years elapsed 
before this position was modified by the regulations 
which were finally adopted at the Peace of Westphalia 
in 1648. 

As time went on there came almost everywhere to 
be found larger or smaller bodies of people who pro- 
fessed a form of religion different from that of their 
sovereign. Their leaders naturally betook themselves 
to the discussion of such questions as the following : 
Are subjects in duty bound to obey their rulers when 
their commands are contrary to the laws of God? 
Should a sovereign be resisted who is planning to 
abrogate the laws of God and demolish the church ? 
Ought the rulers of adjoining countries to help the 
subjects of another if they are being persecuted for 
their religion or are being continually subjected to 
vicious maltreatment by a tyrant ? 

It was also out of discussions such as these that the 
doctrine of Original Contract was developed, to which 
as a transition theory to the position of to-day the 
whole modern world is indebted far more deeply than 
is commonly supposed. According to this view it was 
maintained that there are in every state two contracts ; 
one God makes with the king that He will give pros- 
perity to the nation over which the King rules pro- 
vided it serves God and does not worship idols. The 
second is between the king and the people. They 
agree to submit to his rule so long as he gives them 
a good government, and only so long. 

Before this theory was developed out of the religious 
exigencies of the age, no right to rebel under any con- 
ditions was recognized. Sovereigns were supposed to 



Religion the Key to History 263 







make any laws they pleased and to be released from 
any duty to keep their promises. The only recourse 
was to prayers and tears. From this time on, resist- 
ance to tyrants began to be regarded as a justifiable 
act, and a series of revolutions was started affecting 
two continents which made possible the political free- 
dom of our day. Thus it came about that ''religion 
alone gave the leverage to liberty, which otherwise 
would have perished in the development of the central 
power. ' * 

It is easy for us in our time to see the defects in this 
theory of Original Contract, and we repudiate it as w^e 
do the theory of the divine right of kings. Both these 
theories were necessary when they arose, and they 
Yurnish the connecting link between the ideas of the 
medieval and modern world. The latter carried the 
source of all authority and power back to God ; 
the former prepared the way for the doctrine that God 
has so made this world that all earthly sovereignty 
reposes in the people as a body-politic and not in any 
priest or king. 

Only as men have changed their ideas regarding 
their fundamental relations to God and been moved by 
motives that appeal chiefly to conscience have they 
been willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve 
freedom of religious belief, and it is simply a fact of 
history that religious freedom always precedes political 
freedom. "Religious liberty," says the Cambn'di^c 
Modern History (vol. iii., p. 769), " is rightly described 
as the parent of political. ... It was only the re- 
ligious earnestness, the confessional conflicts, and the 
persecuting spirit of the sixteenth century, that kept 
alive political liberty, and saved it from a colla])se more 
universal than that which befell Republican ideals at 



264 The Sphere of Religion 

the beginning of the Roman Empire. To the spiritual 
intensity of the Reformers and the doctrinal exclusive- 
ness of the confessions — at once the highest and the 
lowest expressions of the theological age — we owe the 
combination of liberty with order which is our most 
cherished possession to-da^'." 

Andrew D. White, so long our distinguished ambas- 
sador to Berlin, in his recently pubhshed Autobiography 
(vol. ii., p. 226) assigns the first place among the 
forces that have contributed to the wonderful advance 
of Germany as a nation within the last fifty years to 
**her religious inheritance." This it is that "gives 
the best stimulus and sustenance to the better aspira- 
tions of her people." Writing in another chapter 
(vol. ii., p. 439) about his interview with Tricoupis, 
the prime minister of Greece, he clearly approves of 
Tricoupis' s assertion that modern Greece owes her 
political independence to religion. It was the church, 
he said, that kept alive the language and nationality of 
the people during the long years of Turkish rule. 

According to Guizot, democracy was first introduced 
into Europe by the foreign missionary- Paul. But it 
took man}^ centuries to giv^e it concrete expression in 
any effective wa}'. Not until the people of France 
had successfully carried out their repeated revolutions 
against arbitrary monarchial institutions backed up 
by equally arbitrar>^ ecclesiastical authority, and the 
United States, stimulated by their example, had success- 
fully thrown off its oppressive yoke, do we have the 
beginning of modem popular government. The so- 
called separation of church and state that was then 
effected destroyed the legal authorit}^ of religion, but 
greatly increased its moral power. 

Judge Simeon E. Baldwin, in his address as President 



Religion the Key to History 265 

of the American Historical Association for 1906, em- 
phasizes the fact that the relation of religion to history 
has greatly changed since the overturning of the order 
of things that prevailed at the close of the eighteenth 
cefitur>\ '' But," he adds, " its strength remains the 
same. Once that strength was largely found in the 
power of an established church, or of a sentiment in 
opposition to an established church. Now it is coming 
more from the force of the principles for which, at 
bottom, churches stand, in influencing public opinion." 

A few of the people in a nation, even among the 
leaders, may for a time be indifferent to religion, but 
the whole people never will be. In our day public 
opinion holds the place of power ; and among all the 
forces that contribute to the formation of public opinion, 
religion holds the first place, as it always has held it. 
Any plan or purpOvSe that fails to receive the sanction 
of the religious ideas of the time will not go on mi- 
opposed and cannot permanently prosper. A policy 
that is clearly in accord with the religious sentiments 
of a people is at once accepted and approved. Public 
opinion under such conditions will find a way to ex- 
press itself, which no party machinery can successfully 
resist. 

Religion is a large subject, and may be viewed from 
many different standpoints. The word signifies more 
than can be expressed in any single sentence. In a gen- 
eral way it designates one's conception of what is proper 
in a superhuman system of things. Hence its meaning 
must constantly vary with the changing knowledge 
and experiences of the individual. If a person's intel- 
lectual development is meagre and his vision narrow, 
his religion will l)e also. Two savages differ little in 
their religious notions. Their daily routine is almost 



266 The SpJio^e of Religion 

identically the same, and their mental horizon scarcelj^ 
reaches beyond their cabins. The starry heavens is 
not the Starr}' heavens to them, and the voice of con- 
science receives only now and then a passing recog- 
nition. Hence they usually regard the unseen beings 
above them merely as arbitrary, inconstant powers, 
whose favor is to be obtained or ill-will averted by the 
use of magical charms. 

As knowledge increases and the experiences of men 
enlarge, some reaching out in one direction and some 
in another of this vast universe, the material that dif- 
ferent individuals gather together out of which to con- 
struct their religious ideals varies enormously, and 
there should always be ample room made for this 
difference. Strict agreement is out of the question 
except in the savage state of development, and the 
more people progress the greater will be the variety 
of their religious beliefs. Any religious system that 
cannot make room for this variety cannot permanently 
endure. 

All the progressive nations of the world in the past 
have changed the form of their religion with changing 
conditions, and this is what is taking place among the 
progressive nations of to-day. The fundamental motive 
of religion does not change, nor does it end. The re- 
ligious element in man is an essential part of his nature. 
Education does not give it, and education cannot take 
it awa}'. It is universal and abiding. Xo man can 
think of himself as unrelated to something higher and 
stronger than himself. He may call this something 
God or Nature, or designate it by any other term he 
chooses. Still he cannot help giving his relation to it 
a dominant place in his history. His views pro or 
con on the subject, whether we consider him as an 



Religion the Key to History 267 

individual or as a member of the state, have always 
vitally affected his conduct and always will. 

** Convince the mass of any people," says Judge 
Baldwin in the address above referred to, *'that a 
change of custom or of law, or no change of custom 
or law ; that a war or no war ; the maintenance of an 
ancient policy or the substitution of another ; the sup- 
port of an existing government or its overthrow, is 
demanded by duty to God, and you have a motive of 
action that is likely to prove irresistible." 

It is a universally observed fact that w^omen are far 
more interested in religion than men, and far more 
affected by its influence. The reason for this is that 
they are by nature less self-centred and self-satisfied 
than men. They are far more eager than men are to 
place themselves under the protecting care of some 
higher and stronger power. Even when happily mar- 
ried and securely established in a house of their own 
they tend far more than men do to look upon all the 
blessings that come to them as gifts from Heaven and 
to express their gratitude in the worship and serv^ice of 
their lives. 

Now when the babe is born into the world, the first 
person he has consciously to do with is his mother. 
To her he looks for support and protection, to her 
he gives his confidence and his love. As he grows 
into childhood, she is the one who instructs him as to 
his relations to others and to God. Women have aiul 
always will have the early training of the race, ami 
these early religious impressions are never absolutely 
forgotten. They will at least come to the front in 
moments of deepest feeling and su])remc effort. 

As the influence of women increases in matters of 
education and tliLV come to take a larger interest in 



268 The Sphere of Religion 

public affairs, religious considerations will have a cor- 
responding increase in the state. Men will pay more 
heed to them in their own conduct and in their rela- 
tions to their fellows. They will more strenuously 
favor what the religious sentiments of the family ap- 
prove, and withhold their support from what those 
sentiments condemn. 

The third volume of the Camb7ddge Modern History^ 
following the one on the Reformation, is entitled ' ' The 
Wars of Religion." But, as everybody must admit, the 
w^ars of religion did not by any means end in the seven- 
teenth century. The religious motive in war. Judge 
Baldwin asserts, *' is as strong to-day as it was a thou- 
sand years ago." He thinks the downfall of Napoleon 
III. was chiefly due to ecclesiastical intrigues, and also 
that the war between Germany and Austria in 1866 
was fomented at Rome to check the growth of Pro- 
testantism in Europe. The Germans went on from 
victory to victory at any cost because they believed 
that the}^ were fighting for God and fatherland. The 
American Civil War, perhaps the most destructive of 
men and property in all history, was fought to the bitter 
end to establish the divine rights of man. 

Emperor William of Germany in an address before 
the naval recruits at Wilhelmshaven declared that the 
defeats of the Russians in the war with Japan were due 
to the deplorable condition of Russian Christianity. On 
the other hand, the Japanese poured out their blood like 
water because they were fighting for him whom they 
regarded as their real spiritual leader, as well as earthly 
sovereign. As another has well said, Admiral Togo's 
message to the Mikado, attributing the annihilation of 
the Russian fleet to his superhuman influence, ''spoke 
the real conviction of a great man and a great people." 



Religion the Key to History 269 

The religion of Islam rules the heart of every Moham- 
medan, regardless of his status or locality. At the call 
of the Sultan of Turkey, the Commander of the Faithful, 
every Moslem would rush to arms. In a remarkable 
letter written to I/3rd Cromer not long ago by one pur- 
porting to be a representative of the Egyptian people, 
the writer extols the wonderful improvement in material 
aflfairs wrought by the English in Egypt. But all this, 
he declares, would count for nothing if the Sultan should 
once ask for soldiers to fight his cause. 

**As men,*' he says, *'we do not love the sons of 
Osman ; the children at the breast know their words, 
and that they have trodden down the Egyptians like dry 
reeds. But as Moslems they are our brethren; the 
Khalif holds the sacred places and the noble relics, 
though the Khalif were hapless as Bajazid, cruel as 
Murad, or mad as Ibrahim, he is the shadow of God. 
and every Moslem must leap up at his call as the willing 
servant to his master, though the wolf may devour his 
child while he does his master's work. . . . If it be 
war, be sure that he who has a sword will draw it, he 
who has a club will strike with it. The women will cry 
from the housetops, * God give victory to Islam.' " 

The repeated uprisings of the natives in Morocco in 
the spring and summer of 1907 alarmed Europe not so 
much because of their actual violence at the time, but 
because it was feared that they were the first signs of a 
vast, volcanic, religious crusade to exterminate the in- 
fidels, started by some '' real " Mahdi in some oasis of 
the desert. The New York Tribune of August 4th of 
that year in an editorial on the Casablanca uprising 
that had occurred the day before said aniongotherthings: 
"That the next holy war whenever it comes will far 
surpass in bitterness and range the vSoudan hostilities ot 



270 The Sphere of Religion 

Mohammedan Ahmed, is firmly believed by many stu- 
dents of Islam. And there are several significant facts 
warranting this fear; above all others the zeal with 
which Mohammedan leaders from Morocco to Mindanao 
have been striving to bring together the thousand war- 
ring sects of Islam into one universal organization. 
This movement has apparently gone far enough to 
simplify considerably the task that a would-be Mahdi 
must do. Many sects have hopes that some day a 
Mahdi, the great successor of the Prophet, will come to 
lead all true believers in a final triumphant war against 
the infidels and to divide all the world's wealth equally 
among the faithful. The good efforts of Pan-Islamists 
may thus readily be made to help the wildest fanaticism 
and greed, if only a scoundrel clever enough and fana- 
tical enough arises to lead the hosts. Has such a man 
arisen ? The Western world is not yet sure. Some of 
England's best advisers on Islamic affairs believe he 
has already established himself somewhere in the east- 
ern Sahara. Others scoff at this conjecture. But 
everybody interested either in Islam or the economic 
development of North Africa hopes that French spies 
will soon be able to settle definitely the rumors of a 
Mahdi. '^ 

The English have always had a serious problem be- 
fore them in their efforts to govern India and never was 
the problem more serious than at present. The main 
trouble is not to be attributed to harsh and oppressive 
laws, for these are often acknowledged by the natives 
to be just and beneficial. The real cause is the differ- 
ence in religion. Even in those localities where there 
has been the most striking improvement in material 
conditions the natives persistently stand aloof from the 
officials of the government and the most strenuous ef- 



Religion the Key to History 271 

forts to win their confidence and good-will are of little 
avail. 

China has remained torpid for two thousand years 
because of the unprogressive character of its religion. 
It is now being awakened out of its slumbers by the 
introduction among the people of truer and saner relig- 
ious ideals. When President Angell of the University 
of Michigan returned some years ago from a govern- 
mental mission to that country, he said in an address 
at Detroit : ** There is not a foot of railroad in China 
to-day. There were twelve miles laid but the natives 
bought it and tore it up ; and the troops have had to 
protect the telegraph which was built while I was there. 
It all comes of their religious belief. It is not a pre- 
judice against invention ; it is because a railroad or a 
telegraph or a reaping-machine interferes with their 
most sacred religious beliefs ; and you cannot move them 
one inch until their belief in ancestral worship and 
Confucianism is shattered to the very base." Since 
these words were uttered the shattering process has 
gone on at a rapid pace. Examination in the Confucian 
classics is no longer required for appointment to public 
office among the Chinese, and this fact alone marks an 
immense change in their religious standards. 

No intelligent observer will find it difficult to discover 
the reason why Spain has in recent years become a 
stagnant nation. In these days of religious enlighten- 
ment and progress she still imposes upon her rulers the 
following coronation oath, even Princess Ena, the niece 
of King Ivdward, being obliged to subscribe to it before 
her marriage to Alphonso could be solcnniized, and she 
could be recognized as his queen : *' I, recognizing as true 
the Catholic and apostolic faith, do hereby i)ublicly ana- 
thematize every heresy, especially that to which I have 



272 The Sphere of Religion 

had the misfortune to belong. I agree with the Holy 
Roman Church, and profess with mouth and heart my 
belief in the Apostolic See, and my adhesion to that 
faith which the Holy Roman Church, the evangelical 
and apostolic authority, delivers to be held. Swearing 
this by the sacred Homoousion, or trinity of the same 
substance, and by the holy gospels of Christ, I do pro- 
nounce those worthy of eternal anathema who oppose 
this faith, with their dogmas and their followers. And 
should I myself at any time presume to approve or pro- 
claim anything contrary hereto, I will subject myself to 
the severity of the canon law. So help me God and 
these His Holy Gospels. ' ' With such a religious stand- 
ard as this for the people, they cannot fail to retrograde. 
Until loftier and more truthful ideals are set before them 
advancement is out of the question. 

It is a striking fact that try as hard as we may we can 
make but little progress in gaining the sympathetic in- 
terest and trade of our fellow republics in Central and 
South America. There is plenty of friendly talk in- 
dulged in at our Pan-American Congresses. Many pro- 
jects that would be of great material benefit to all parties 
are loudly extolled , but few bring forth any visible fruit. 
Our southern neighbors, although they copy our politi- 
cal ideas, still continue to view us with suspicion. Race 
differences do not account for it, nor do differences in 
language. The plain truth is that their church afl&lia- 
tions and ideals dominate their conduct and draw them 
elsewhere. 

Every historical student is well aware of the fact 
that in the origin and development of international 
law, religion has always exerted a leading influence. 
Sir R. Phillimore describes international law as based 
upon **the consent of nations to things which are 



Religion the Key to History 273 

naturally, that is by the law of God, binding upon 
them." 

People were first impelled to come together because 
of sympathy or fellow-feeling for their kind, not be- 
cause they were seeking material aid or economic 
advantage. Giddings, in the preface to a recent edition 
of his Principles of Sociology, insists upon it ''that 
fellow-feeling is a cause in social phenomena and that 
mutual aid is an effect." He extols Adam Smith's 
Theory of Moral Sentiments as giving the true histori- 
cal standpoint from which to view human progress 
rather than The Wealth of Nations, 

In primitive times men traced their descent from 
their totemic gods. Those who had the same totem 
were brothers. All strangers were treated by these 
groups as enemies, but as soon as one of them found 
out that another group had the same religion as itself 
it would unite with it for common worship. Even the 
Amphictyonic Council among the Greeks had for its 
chief object the protection of the temple at Delphi. It 
was for this reason that the deputies of the twelve tribes 
that composed it bound themselves by oath that ' ' they 
would not destroy any Amphictyonic city nor cut off 
its streams in war or peace." 

The ideas of the Christian religion have immensely 
influenced the public law of the world. From their 
earliest introduction they have been the chief cause of 
its advancement. It was inevitable that the old doc- 
trine of the natural antipathy of nations should begin 
to totter when the new idea that God "has made of 
one blood all nations of men" once obtained a foot- 
hold. Cabinets and cani])S were alike affected by it. 
The citizen of one state began to rcco^i;iiize in the citi- 
zen of another a Christian brother. Many of \\\v b:ir- 
18 



2 74 T^^^ Sphere of Religion 

barities that from the earliest times had been practised 
upon strangers, even the victims of shipwreck being 
regarded as lawful plunder, soon fell away, and others, 
which were persisted in in spite of the opposition of the 
church, were greatly mitigated in severity and number. 

As an arbitrator between states, the Pope often ex- 
erted a mighty influence for good when all other means 
had failed. ''In an age of force," says Lawrence in 
his Essays on Modern International Law (p. 149), '' he 
introduced into the settlement of international disputes 
principles of humanity and justice, and had the Roman 
Curia always acted upon the principles which it invari- 
ably proposed, its existence as a great court of inter- 
national appeal would have been an unmixed benefit." 
With all its defects, we must still agree with Professor 
Davis {Outlines of International Law, p. 11) when he 
says that ' ' unquestionably the most powerful influence 
that was exerted upon the science of international law 
during its formative period was that of the Roman 
Church." 

The institution of chivalry greatly affected many 
phases of the laws of war. Its regulations at first ap- 
plied only to the conduct of knights towards each 
other, but soon the beneficial effects of the institution 
were seen in the gentler and more humane treatment 
of slaves and captives and in the stricter keeping of 
faith with enemies and strangers. But chivalry was 
an outgrowth of the crusades, and the crusades, as 
everybody admits, were among the most colossal relig- 
ious movements of all history. They brought all 
Christendom far more intimately together than could 
possibly have been done in any other manner. They 
acquainted the people of Western Europe with two civil- 
izations superior to their own — the Greek and the 



Religion the Key to History 



/:) 



Saraceu — and thus laid the foundations for the won- 
derful development of international commerce and 
literature and art that immediately followed. 

In our day the distinction in international law be- 
tween Christian and Mohammedan is disappearing as 
effectually as the ancient one between Greek and bar- 
barian. This is not because religion has come to have 
less influence in these matters than formerly, but be- 
cause the doctrine of the universal brotherhood of man 
is being so widely extended over the earth. Not that 
which is peculiar to any one religion, but that which 
is common to all religions is coming to be more and 
more completely recognized. 

In obedience to the religious impulse the representa- 
tives of the civilized nations of the earth came together 
at The Hague Peace Conference in 1899, and for the 
same reason they reassembled in 1907. Indeed we 
have the best of authority for the statement that the 
very idea of a Peace Conference was suggested to the 
Czar as a means of improving the lamentable state of 
religion in his empire. If there could be a reduction 
of armaments, a portion of the enormous expenditures 
of Russia upon war could be devoted to the advance- 
ment of the church. The Conference itself from its 
first inception received the heartiest support from the 
ministers of religion. It is based on the idea that uni- 
versal brotherhood is the criterion of international 
obligations ; that man is a citizen not only of his own 
locality but of the world ; and that family and race are 
always to be considered as secondary to humanity. 

A better theology and a truer view in reganl to the 
Bible are affecting modern civilization to a far greater 
extent than is commonly supposed. The burden of the 
theology of the Middle Ages was a future heaven and a 



276 The SpJiere of Religion 

future hell. The most intelligent preachers of our times 
are concentrating their attention upon the present. 
*' One world at a time " is their motto. If we do our 
dut}^ here and now, the future will take care of itself. 
The principles of a righteous Ufe are eternal : whatever 
is good for this world is good for the next. Everj^thing 
is put in the present tense. Ser\'e God now and keep 
his commandments. This is the whole dut}^ of man. 

The theolog3^ of to-day is no longer satisfied with a 
creed that chiefl}' attempts to set forth the genesis and 
attributes of the Supreme Being, although it asserts 
with Paul that " the invisible things of him from the 
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood 
by the things that are made, even his eternal power 
and Godhead." It seeks to determine what every 
creature ought to do in his present environment to hve 
in harmou}' with the eternal source of his being a^d 
happiness. One of the chief reasons why the Jew and 
the Christian are now living together in greater peace 
and good will in most civilized lands than ever before 
is the fact that the}^ are both coming to see that the 
Old Testament and the New Testament do not teach 
antagonistic doctrines, but set forth essentially the 
same unchanging faith. The Jew seeks his rewards 
and looks for his punishments mainly in this present' 
life. So now do most intelligent Christians. The 
Commandments refer to the world that now is, and so 
do the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer. 

The Bible under the influence of the newer methods 
of interpretation has become almost another book, but 
never has it affected thought and conduct so much 
as at present. It is shown by statistics to be the best 
selling book in the world. The Japanese, the Russians, 
the Chinese, and the Hindus are buying it and reading 



Religi07i the Key to History 277 

it in whole or in part to the extent of over a million 
copies every year. It has well been said ''that no 
single cause for the spread of religious liberty and, by 
consequence, of civil liberty in modern times has been 
so powerful as the circulation of the Bible in all 
languages." 

The demand for higher ethical standards in politics 
and business and social life that is now asserting itself 
in almost every land is chiefly due to its teachings. 
Men are coming to admit as never before that devotion 
to the true, the beautiful, and the good in this world is 
the real basis of a w^orthy and happy life ; that, after 
all, character and conduct are the things that really 
count, and that these are the children of faith in things 
eternal and unseen. The spread of these ideas over 
the earth does not lessen, but greatly enhances the mo- 
tives of love to God and regard for one's fellows. These 
are the forces that are directing as never before the 
course of history, and will more and more manifest 
their power as nations progress. The historian of to- 
day must not only write his history in the religious 
spirit, but he must see the dominating influences of 
a Superhuman Power in the world's ongoings, if he 
wishes to be true to the facts. For ever^^ careful student 
of the course of human affairs upon this planet must 
agree with Weber in his recent History of Philosophy 
(p. 18), when he says, *' Philosophy, being a late pro- 
duct of human development, plays but a subordinate 
and intermittent part in history. Religion, on the 
other hand, guides its destinies/* 



CHAPTER VI. 

WHAT RKI^IGION HAS TO DO WITH EDUCATION. 

The word ' ' education ' * comes from the Latin verb 
educare, meaning to nourish or bring up. By common 
agreement it is not applied to vegetables or animals, 
but only to persons. Nor is it to be confounded with 
mere training. We have a perfect right to talk about 
a well-trained horse or dog or pigeon, but no one of 
them is or can be educated in the proper sense of that 
term. Equally unfitting is it to speak of an educated 
savage, although by dint of physical prowess and intel- 
lectual cunning he may easily gain the mastery over 
all the other savages with whom he comes in contact. 

Education is possible only when a being has de- 
veloped far enough to possess a more or less conscious 
ideal of what the improvement of his life requires, only 
when his imagination can picture more or less vaguely 
a higher plane of existence than the one he now occu- 
pies. As Prof S. S. Laurie rightly says in his excellent 
Historical Survey of Pre-Christian Education (p. 3), " It 
is only when the ideas of bodily vigor, of bravery, of 
strength, of bodily beauty, or personal morality become 
desirable for themselves, or as the necessary conditions 
of political life and national conservation, that education 
begins." 

Some sort of an ordered civilization must therefore 
precede education ; and since different degrees of civil- 
ization exist in different communities, a great variety 

278 



What Religion has to Do with Ediicatio7i 279 

of conceptions of education have arisen in the course of 
history and still prevail over the earth. We can hardly 
do better for our purpose than to take it for granted 
that no person can be considered as well educated who 
has not consciously developed the capacity to put him- 
self in harmony with his environment and to modify or 
change that environment. The former places him in 
line with the course of history, and the latter opens up 
the way to future progress. The environment of any 
man is made up of two things, his physical surround- 
ings and the sum-total of knowledge and custom that 
we call the civilization of his age. It is chiefly with 
the latter that education has to do. 

Now it is admitted by all authorities that the begin- 
nings of civilization were originated by religion. '* Re- 
ligion," says Professor Jastrow in his Study of Religion 
(p. 310), **. . . is the stimulus which produces the 
earliest definite manifestations of culture. It gives 
birth to the arts and sciences, and not only encourages 
all manner of intellectual pursuits, but presides over 
them." 

Medicine, although the most materialistic of all the 
professions, had its origin with the priests. To them 
the people came for relief from their ills, because they 
were supj)Osed to know far better than others of their 
number how to control the evil spirits, who were 
universally regarded in early times as the cause of all 
bodily troubles. 

It is also true that the sanctuary was the oldest 
tribunal of law. When a dispute arose, it was the 
priest who undertook to determine what was the will 
of the local deity in regard to it, and his decision was 
taken as the ultiniate authority in the case. 

Astronomy came into being because of the belief 



2 8o The sphere of Religion 

current in that age that the planets and stars were 
associated with the actions of certain deities. It was 
therefore considered of great importance carefully to 
watch their movements, in order to ascertain what of 
good or ill the gods had in store for mortals. 

lyong before the thought arose of making one's 
dwelling anything more than a shelter from the in- 
clemencies of the weather, architecture had reached 
a high degree of development. For temples had to be 
erected for the abodes of the gods. Then came paint- 
ing and sculpture to adorn and beautify these abodes. 
Music was developed in order to entertain the deities, 
and odes and hymns were composed to sound forth 
their praises. Philosophy arose out of theology, and 
at the outset included all the natural sciences known 
in that day. In short, everything that pertained to 
the civilization of the time had religion for its source. 

It is no accident, therefore, that in the earliest ages 
the entire matter of education and culture was in 
the charge of priests. In Egypt, they constituted the 
highest order in the state, and along with the monarch 
governed the country. All the learning of the Egyp- 
tians was in their hands. They instructed the mem- 
bers of the royal family, and, it is to be presumed, the 
children of court dignitaries. Great colleges for the 
education of priests were situated in the principal cities, 
such as Memphis, Thebes, and Heliopolis, and in them 
the highest learning of the land was to be found. 

Among the Chaldseo-Babylonians, the priests not 
only conserved and developed the religious system 
which they had inherited from the Accadians, but they 
also handed down the traditions of the race and em- 
bodied in an oral and written literature its highest 
poetical conceptions and its philosophy of life. 



What Religion has to Do with Education 281 

The Assyrians rivalled the Babylonians in the mag- 
nificence of their temples and palaces and the art with 
which they were adorned. Technical and military 
skill was undoubtedly developed among them to a 
high degree of excellence and was widely diffused. 
But education of the highest kind, as with the Baby- 
lonians, was in the keeping of the priests. Whatever 
education the youth of the land received was due to 
them. 

By far the most famous of the Semitic races were the 
Hebrews. Moses was the central figure in their history 
and he was one of the greatest schoolmasters of all time. 
He claimed to be the mouthpiece of Jahveh and his 
one aim was to make him the centre of the spiritual and 
political life of the people. Civil law and social practice 
were derived from the law of God. As another remarks : 
**The banal distinction between sacred and secular, 
from which modem Europe suffers, did not exist.'* It 
was this close connection between religion, morality, 
and civil polity that gave the Jewish priesthood an in- 
fluence unequalled in any other land. 

With the Israelites, all education was religious both 
in its highest and lowest forms. The fear of the Lord 
was not only the beginning, but the end of all wisdom. 
All the literature of the countr}^ centred around Jahveh. 
Priests and prophets and scribes devoted their energies 
to the preservation and application of his commands and 
the psalmists gave their strength to sounding forth his 
praises. 

The Jewish conception of the relation of religion to 
education is well summed up in the injunction : ** Thou 
shalt love the lyord thy God witli all thine heart, and 
with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these 
words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine 



282 The Sphere of Religion 

heart : and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy 
children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in 
thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and 
when thou liest down, and when thou risest up " 
(Deut. vi. 5-7). This requirement made some degree 
of education imperative and has enormously aiOFected 
not only the history of the Jewish people, but of the 
world. 

Learning among the Hindus was almost exclusively 
in the hands of the Brahmans. Under certain conditions 
they explained portions of it to the two next lower castes. 
For they alone were considered capable in any degree 
of comprehending its meaning. Manu's Book of Laws 
thus expresses the end of all education : "' To learn and 
to understand the Vedas, to practise pious mortifica- 
tions, to acquire divine knowledge of the law and of 
philosophy, to treat with veneration his natural and 
spiritual father, these are the chief duties by means of 
which endless felicity is attained." In the same Book 
of Laws, we also read : ''A female child, a young girl, 
a wife, shall never do anything according to their own 
will, not even in their own house. While a child she 
shall depend upon her father ; during her youth 
on her husband; and, when a widow, on her sons'* 
(v., 147). The religion of the countr}^ made it almost 
the sole mission of women to bear children and serve 
their husbands. Hence women, among the Hindus, 
were excluded from all education, except in the case of 
dancing girls who were taught to read and write and 
sing in order to serve in the temples as * ' maidens of 
the god." 

The Magi among the Persians possessed all the sci- 
ence and philosophy of the nation ; but as the religion 
they represented was a religion of light and truth, as 



What Religion has to Do with Education 283 

opposed to darkness and error, they taught the people 
courage and truth-speaking and purity of life. Accord- 
ing to Herodotus, they thought that the most dis- 
graceful thing in the world was to tell a lie ; and that 
the next worst thing was to owe a debt, because, 
among other reasons, the debtor is obliged to tell lies. 
The Persians regarded themselves as colaborers with 
Armazd, the lord of life and light, and were to fight 
with him for the establishment of his Kingdom of Light. 
Hence they did what they could to educate their chil- 
dren in personal courage and justice and truth. They 
made these virtues the sum and substance of education, 
because they had developed in their religious ideas far 
enough to regard them as the chief attributes of God. 

Among the Chinese, the Greeks, and the Romans, 
there was no separately organized priesthood, but its 
place was taken by a political aristocracy. The state 
was the church, and embodied in its scheme of civil 
affairs the moral and religious guidance of the people. 
Nor do we find in these cases any real exception to the 
rule that in ancient times the educational leaders of a 
nation were identical with those of the church. 

Confucianism has for many centuries been the state 
religion of the Chinese and their whole life is still for 
the most part controlled by it. The idea of a great 
world-order established and maintained by a Supreme 
Principle of Mind is the foundation of all their thought. 
And this world-order first found expression among them 
in their family life. This is the centre of the religious 
and political activity of the people. The mission of the 
emperor, who is the son of heaven and father of his 
people, has always been to order and govern all human 
institutions by laws bearing upon every department of 
life. Antiquity is, in the opinion of the Chinese, the 



284 The Sphere of Religion 

infallible guide to truth. While they have often shown 
great intellectual ability and acuteness, a superstitious 
regard for the past has crushed out all originality from 
their systems of education. Only that which has been 
approved by their ancestors is regarded as worthy of 
reverence and thought. 

Some writers have asserted that the Greeks, whom 
all admit to have been the most intellectual and best 
educated people of their age, were not deeply religious, 
but the fact is just the opposite. Every Greek child 
was early taught to pay homage to the conical stone 
of Apollo that stood in front of his dwelling, and an 
altar to Zeus occupied the chief place in every court- 
yard. A libation to Hestia was poured out on the hearth 
not only at the beginning of every feast, but of the or- 
dinary meal. ' ' Kitchen, storerooms, and bedchamber 
had their respective divinities. From birth to death there 
were few events in the life of a Greek when the gods 
were not remembered . ' ' They believed that everything 
that man possesses was the gift of the gods and they 
were constantly approaching them with oflFerings and 
prayers to win their favor for the future or to express 
their thankfulness for the past. 

This was especially true of them as a nation. They 
commemorated their victory over the Persians by erect- 
ing the colossal bronze statue of Athene on the Acrop- 
olis and a group of lesser deities at Delphi. Later as they 
came into possession of more wealth they constructed 
the Parthenon and Propylaea at Athens and numerous 
temples in other cities, whose remains are to this day 
the wonder and the joy of mankind. Throughout 
all their history their religious festivals were celebrated 
with devout regularity and with becoming dignity and 
pomp. 



What Religion has to Do with Education 285 

It is true that they did not make much of priests, al- 
though they had them at such religious centres as Eleusis 
and Delphi ; for they did not regard them as having any 
peculiar knowledge concerning the will of the gods or 
any special control over their conduct. Nor did they 
feel the need of any mediators between themselves and 
their gods, or of the exact performance of a complicated 
system of rites. The absence among them of any belief 
in a revelation committed to the care of a chosen few also 
largely accounts for this fact. They all thought of the 
gods as everywhere present and deeply concerned in 
everything that pertained to their private and public life. 
Fear was not dominant in their natures and their rela- 
tion to their gods was a pleasant and friendly one. They 
were too light-hearted and optimistic to dwell much upon 
the mysterious and awful in the world. 

Their gods were concrete individuaHties who em- 
bodied in themselves the highest ideals of human 
thought. They saw in the causes of all being and all 
change, moving forces similar to those that operated 
in their own breasts. Their worship was in truth the 
worship of humanity. '* To the Hellenic conception 
everything beautiful was holy : everything pleasant to 
man was acceptable to the gods.'' Hence it is that 
their religious sentiments naturally expressed them- 
selves in architecture and the plastic arts. Pericles 
knew, as Von Ranke points out, that when he was 
promoting the fine arts among the Athenians he was 
strengthening their religion. 

The Greek religion was the religion of the beautiful 
and they saw this beauty in everything around them. 
Nothing in their eyes was common or unclean. They 
investigated everything in order to find out its ideal 
relations ; for in that way only could they satisfy their 



286 The Sphere of Religion 

passion for knowing things as the gods knew them, 
which to them was the same thing as saying, as they 
really are. For this reason we owe to them not only 
the arts of architecture, sculpture, and painting, and 
the finest forms of poetry, but the beginnings of science 
and history and the extraordinary elaboration of logic 
and philosophy. 

All their education, both physical and mental, was 
primarily undertaken for the purpose of raising man to 
their conception of the divine. The body was subjected 
to the most vigorous training in order that it might be 
made the easy vehicle of a free and happy spirit. The 
great games on the plains of Olympia, to which all 
Greece annually flocked, were always accompanied 
by services in the temple and had the special favor 
of the gods. The greatest reward bestowed upon the 
victor was to elevate him to the rank of the gods. 

While the prime object of human existence, as Aris- 
totle expressed it, was to ^ * live happily and beauti- 
fully " like a god, the secondary object was to fit 
oneself for his place in the state. For only thus could 
one come to the full and free development of his powers. 
The state to an Athenian was not something arbitrarily 
imposed upon him from without. It got its authority 
from himself. Its laws were a counterpart of his own 
life. Hence his idea was that you must have the most 
highly developed manhood in order to have the best 
citizen. This was an ideal much higher than any 
that had preceded it, as it aimed at the harmonious 
development of the whole man, both of mind and body. 

lyaurie is right in maintaining in his discussion of 
education among the Greeks that '* the civic idea was 
dominant, just as in China the family idea was and is 
dominant, and in India the caste idea, in Egypt the 



What Religion has to Do with Education 287 

class idea, among the Jews the theological idea, and 
among the Persians the virile military idea." But, as 
he himself elsewhere holds, each of these ideas is to be 
traced back to a preconceived religious idea as to what 
kind of an education would be most acceptable to the 
gods. 

It may be well here to note that although the Greeks 
had very lofty ideas in regard to education, like all 
other ancient nations they made no attempt to apply 
them to all classes. Women among the Athenians had 
no school education. The little they knew about the 
world in which they lived they learned at home. Ex- 
cept on great festival occasions they and their children 
were generally confined to the upper floor of their 
dwellings. So far from having any athletic develop- 
ment they were for the most part slender and pale. 
Propriety of conduct, domestic thrift, and the harmon- 
ious management of the household were considered 
their finest qualities. They took no part in social en- 
tertainments. When a husband had guests at dinner, 
the wife was not allowed to be present, although it was 
her duty carefully to prepare the feast. 

And tlien, too, we must remember that slavery was 
everywhere dominant. In Attica, at its best period, 
four out of five of its population belonged to that class. 

One of the chief differences between the religion of a 
Roman and that of a Greek is seen in the fact that 
when the former made a sacrifice he covered his head 
with a veil, while the latter raised his hands and eyes 
toward the heavens. The very word ** religion,** which 
has come down to us from the ancient Romans, shows 
us with what awe they approached the Unseen. To 
them religion was not a matter of joyous friendliness, 
but a great and serious reality. As Ihne puts it (///.v- 



2 88 The Sphere of Religion 

tory of Ro7ne, vol. iv., p. 3), '^ religion with the Romans 
was not a matter of feeUng or speculation, but of law.' ^ 

Their supreme deity was Jupiter Optimus Maximus, 
whom they regarded not alone as the father of men and 
the source of every blessing, but pre-eminently the di- 
vine personification of the Roman state. This deep 
religious feeling was exhibited all through their history 
and they always made a complete identification of the 
church with the state. It is said of the great Scipio 
Africanus that he went daily into the temple of Jupiter 
to pray, and that he ascribed all his triumphs to the 
protecting care of that deity. 

The unit of the Roman state was the family, and the 
centre of the family life was the worship of the house- 
hold gods. The Penates watched over the hearth and 
the Lares were the spirits of departed ancestors, who 
were regarded as still concerned with all that related 
to the welfare of their descendants. In the atrium of 
the house, beside the household hearth, usuall}^ stood 
between two Penates the chief Lar clad in a toga. Be- 
fore this shrine a prayer was offered every morning 
and libations were poured out at every meal-time. 
Three times a month and on all festal occasions 
sacrifices were made, the father acting as a priest. 

The Roman clans were but enlarged families, each 
clan having a common altar and making common sac- 
rifices ; and the religion of the Roman state was simply 
the religion of the clans, with a common hearth, where 
the Vestal Virgins forever guarded the eternal fire. 

" So closely," sa^^s a high authority on the subject, 
'' was the Roman life bound up with religion that we 
have found it impossible to speak of the one without 
the other. The Roman state ultimately rests on Jupiter 
as law and order and object of supreme reverence, on 



What Religion has to Do with Education 289 

Mars as the strong arm for defence and oflFence, and 
on Vesta as symbolizing the sacredness and purity of 
the home." 

In regarding Jupiter as the head of the state, the 
Romans came instinctively to recognize law as the 
basis of true liberty, and they did not seek it in 
the arbitrary decisions of individuals. They thus 
made themselves an extending and long-enduring 
power, and laid the foundations of a jurisprudence that 
became a mighty factor in the subsequent history of 
the world. In the divine law they saw the elder sister 
of civil law, and the mould or pattern in which it was 
to be cast. The characteristics of the one became the 
characteristics of the other. In both we find the same 
vSeverity, the same precision, the same inflexible will, 
and the same aversion to modification or change. 

In these elements of their religion and, what amounts 
to the same thing, their political life, we find the key 
to their conception of education. Their youth were 
instructed in such things as would help them bear 
the burdens of the state. They did not devote their 
energies to music and gymnastics, as the Greeks did, 
in order that they might develop a beautiful mind in a 
beautiful body. But, in the words of Cicero, *'the 
children of the Romans, on the other hand, are brought 
up that they may one day be able to be of service to 
the fatherland, and one must accordingly instruct them 
in the customs of the state and in the institutions of 
their ancestors.'* Mere culture and harmonious de- 
velopment was not the end they had in view. They 
gave little time and strength to poetry and science and 
art for tliat reason. 

What they sought was virtus, manly vigor. The 
studies they pursued were mainly intended to make 
19 



290 The Sphere of Religion 

them strong for political service. For the most part 
the education a boy received in the palmiest days of 
the Roman people was obtained through the moral and 
religious influences of his own home in constant and 
free intercourse with his father and mother. And he 
was considered to have reached the highest degree of 
wisdom of which he was capable if he had developed 
in himself a deep sense of duty to law, to paternal 
authority, and to the state. 

With the lawless indulgence of almost every passion 
and the utter disregard for the demands of ethics and 
religion that attended the decline and fall of the Roman 
Empire, this standard of education vanished from sight, 
and mere dilettanteism and glibness of tongue were 
most cultivated and admired. The rhetoricians were 
dominant in this period, and they made it their chief 
aim to develop in their pupils the ability to speak with 
equal effectiveness on either side of any proposition, 
caring little or nothing for the quality of the thought. 
*'This power of using words,'' says Professor Dill, 
when describing this era, * ' for mere pleasurable effect 
on the most trivial or the most extravagantly absurd 
themes was for many ages, in both west and east, 
esteemed the highest proof of talent and cultivation." 

This state of things continued until the ideas of the 
Christian religion began to have some effect upon the 
thought of the time, and the rise and fall of education 
ever since have chiefly depended upon the way they 
have been treated. The two leading ideas of this re- 
ligion are that God is not only a god of law, but of 
love, and that every man is a child of God, capable 
of being his companion and friend. The best the 
pagan world had to offer for the improvement of so- 
ciety was an appeal to the intellect. Education was 



What Religion has to Do with Education 291 

therefore necessarily aristocratic and possible only for a 
comparatively few favored spirits. Christianity aroused 
the moral nature and placed its emphasis upon the 
will, rendering the attainment of virtue possible for 
all. It thus laid the foundation for a new solution of 
the educational problem. 

The Stoic philosophy as represented by Seneca, Epic- 
tetus, and Marcus Aurelius approached ver}^ closely to 
the ethical teachings of Christianity, for it fully recog- 
nized that a regard for moral conduct was the supreme 
need of the time. Stoics, equally with the Christians, 
were the first humanitarians. They both believed in 
the inherent right of every citizen to an education. 
But stoicism could appeal only to a limited few, whose 
minds were already highly developed. Hence it can- 
not be compared with Chrisitanity in the extent of its 
influence or its bearing upon the matter of education. 

None of the ancient religions or philosophies did 
much or were capable of doing much for the improve- 
ment of the people at large. Slavery everywhere 
abounded, and sympathy with the unfortunate or re- 
gard for others was seldom mentioned by any of them, 
and rarely if ever highly commended. 

Professor Munroe in \\\s History of Ediccation (p. 229), 
in concluding a description of the condition of affairs in 
the Roman Empire to which the Christian ideas of 
education had to adapt themselves, says : *' The most 
refined women of the period were devoted to these pub- 
lic spectacles [gladiatorial combats] ; even women de- 
scended to fight in the circus ; there were connoiSvSeurs 
in the expressions of men dying in torture ; at private 
banquets men were torn to pieces by wild beasts for 
the entertainment of guests. It was said of one of the 
emperors that he ' never supped without human blood.' 



2g2 The Sphere of Religi07i 

These facts indicate how decadent beyond all modem 
standards was this society ; how impossible it is for us 
now to comprehend those times ; and also w^hat was 
the task before the new Christian education." 

The early church betook itself at once to the destruc- 
tion of this state of society. Consequently it gave its 
attention almost wholl}' to the moral education of its 
members. Its only text-books were the Mosaic Law 
and the Sermon on the Mount ; and they inculcated 
standards of personal moralit}^ never before heard of 
by the great mass of the population. The testimony 
of scholars is unanimous that the early Christian Church 
thus introduced into the world, and enforced, an en- 
tirely new S3'stem of education, that for several cen- 
turies, at least, produced results among the most 
remarkable as well as the most beneficial in all histor}^ 

Divorce, which had reached such a state that men 
were said to change their wives as easih' as their gar- 
ments, was made disreputable and largel}^ suppressed. 
Infanticide, before universally practised, was rooted 
out. The exposure of children was made a capital 
crime. Gladiatorial shows were put down, and the 
grossh' lascivious rites of many pagan religious bodies 
abolished. 

The schools that the earty Christians established 
were at first as a matter of necessity catechumenical. 
They were designed to give to those who wished to 
join their number the requisite knowledge of their doc- 
trines and mode of life, and also to cultivate an ac- 
quaintance with music, which they made almost as 
much use of as the ancient Greeks. Later, higher 
schools were instituted at Alexandria and other Eastern 
centres, where the leaders and ministers of the church 
were instructed in all the Grecian learning of the day. 



What Religion has to Do with Education 293 



As time went on a decided diflference of opinion arose, 
among those most prominent in affairs, as to the value 
of this learning, the church Fathers of the East arguing 
in its favor and those of the West against it. 

Justin Martyr declared that Plato, Socrates, and 
Heracleitus were Christians before Christ, and that 
Grecian philosophy tended to the same end as Chris- 
tianity. Clement claimed that '' Plato was Moses 
Atticized," and that the philosophy of the ancients 
was *'a pedagogue to bring the world to Christ." 
Origen, the most learned of the early Christian Fathers, 
contended strongly for the helpfulness of the pagan 
sciences to the doctrines of Christianity, and was the 
chief instrument in disseminating the new religion 
among the Greeks. 

Tertullian, the first of the Latin Fathers, on the 
other hand, vigorously maintained that heresies only 
are stimulated by the study of philosophy. **What 
indeed," he exclaims, "has Athens to do with Jeru- 
salem ? What concord is there between the Academy 
and the Church ? What between heretics and Chris- 
tians? . . . Away with all attempts to produce a 
mottled Christianity of Stoic, Platonic, and dialectic 
composition ! " 

Essentially the same point of view was taken by 
St. Jerome, the author of the famous Vulgate version 
of the Scriptures. A dream which he records well 
expresses his sentiments on this subject. On being 
dragged before the judgment-scat of heaven he was 
asked, '' Who art thou ? " He replied, *' A Christian." 
But immediately his stricken conscience heard the awful 
judgment, "It is false: thou art no Christian ; thou 
art a Ciceronian ; where the treasure is, there the heart 
is also." 



2 94 The Spliere of Religion 

The influence of Augustine, the most active and 
powerful mind of the church Fathers of the West, was 
strongly against the classical learning in the later period 
of his life, and he probably induced the Council of Car- 
thage to prohibit all clerics from reading any of it. In 
this contest the Fathers of the West finally prevailed 
and their victor}' resulted, as was to be expected, in a 
general lack of interest in learning of even,' kind. It 
brought on the period commonly known as " the dark 
ages, ' ' and for a thousand years it impeded the progress 
of education far more effectivel}^ than any other single 
cause, and many think than all other causes combined. 

On account of it, the education of the early church 
reached its culmination in asceticism and monasticism. 
For it insisted upon the false doctrine that religion re- 
quires a renunciation of the world that now is, the 
abandonment of all real interest in the affairs of ever^-- 
da}' life, and concentrated its attention almost exclu- 
sivel}' upon the world that is to come. It ruled out of 
the sphere of thought the three most important phases 
of human life — the family, industrial society, and the 
state, — phases which it is the glor}' of the Christian 
religion, as interpreted in our day, especially to extol. 

But even the monks themselves were far from being 
satisfied with this narrow and one-sided view. In spite 
of the disapproval of the church leaders for several 
centuries, they kept alive a knowledge of the ancient 
literature, and we owe it to their care that this know- 
ledge has been presen'ed to our time. For centuries the 
monasteries possessed the onl}- libraries, produced the 
only scholars, and were the only universities of research. 

In spite of thelow state of education during this period, 
efforts were made here and there to broaden religious 
beliefs and brino; about a srreater re2:ard for the welfare 



What Religion has to Do with Education 295 

of man in this life. It was under the influence of this 
motive that the Emperor Charlemagne, toward the close 
of the eighth century, called Alcuin from one of the 
cathedral schools in England to assist him in reviving 
an interest in learning. He fully recognized the fact 
that the chief instrument for uniting and elevating a 
people is their religion, and that if you have ignorant 
and narrow-minded clergymen little or nothing can be 
done to this end. Accordingly he commanded that 
letters be taught to them in order that, as he says in his 
capitulary upon schools, there may be '' a regular man- 
ner of life and one conformable to holy religion." 

Still the old ideas, for the most part, held sway until 
the thirteenth century, when scholasticism gained a hold 
upon the church and, for two hundred years, had an al- 
most unmolested reign. Education for this period 
chiefly consisted in the development of ability, under 
the guidance of the Aristotelian logic, to elaborate the 
dogmas of the church, into the most perfect and compli- 
cated systems of thought. Little or no attention was 
paid to the validity of the material used, or to the ques- 
tion as to whether equally or more important facts had 
not been left out. 

About this time, owing chiefly to the unrest within 
their own borders, monastic schools here and there began 
to be enlarged into universities. The one at Paris was 
the most famous and became the mother of many others. 
Oxford was brought into notice by a migration from 
Paris in 1229, and Cambridge became prominent on 
account of a similar migration from Oxford. By the 
time of the Renaissance, seventy-five to eighty of these 
institutions had arisen in difierent parts of Europe. 
Here freedom of discussion first found its home. At 
the outset only one or two subjects of a strictly tlieo- 



296 The Sphere of Religion 

logical character were taken up, but later the curriculum 
was enlarged to cover the entire range of the then 
existing studies. 

Although these institutions often possessed but little 
real power, still they always kept alive the spark at 
least of independent investigation. Out of them came, 
in course of time, the forerunners of modern thought 
such as Roger Bacon, Dante, Petrarch, Wycliffe, Co- 
pernicus, and Huss, all of whom did so much to broaden 
the religious conceptions of their age, and open up the 
way for the development of the modern spirit. They 
were the first to show the world how unsatisfactory and 
narrow was the existing system of education, that found 
no worthy aims to be pursued in this life, except those 
that bore immediately upon the life to come. 

Taking advantage of the discontent of the people with 
the conditions that the crusades had largely brought 
about, they did what tbe}^ could to open up to the world 
three spheres of life that for centuries had been almost 
wholly unknown : — the civilization of the ancients, to 
which the leaders of the church up to that time had 
been almost wholly indifferent ; the world of literature, 
of which medieval thought was densely ignorant , and 
the world of nature, which was universally supposed 
in that age to exert upon man an ignoble and debasing 
influence. 

Before this time these realms of knowledge were re- 
garded as antagonistic to a religious life and were not 
cultivated for that reason. These men and others like 
them such as John Reuchlin, Roger Ascham, John 
Sturm, and above all Erasmus opposed this view and 
began the agitation that eventually led to the develop- 
ment of the manifold spheres of activity that characterize 
our modem times. 



What Religion has to Do with Education 297 

The new humanistic learning was especially accept- 
able in Germany, The first permanent chair devoted 
to it was founded at the University of Erfurt in 1494 
where Luther was educated, and Wittenberg from its 
very beginning in 1502 was one of its principal centres. 
By 1520 it was represented in all the German univer- 
sities of that day and became one of the chief instru- 
ments in bringing about the Protestant Reformation. 

It is to this latter movement that we owe the general 
characteristics of the education of our day, in spite of 
the fact that during the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
turies the results logically involved in the fundamental 
positions of the reformers were not realized. The bitter 
partisan and religious wars that were waged during this 
period absorbed the energies of the people and pre- 
vented the spread of free learning that took place when 
the country had more time to devote to the art of peace. 

The reformers were the first to advocate the estab- 
lishment of systems of schools based upon the idea of 
universal education. *'Such systems of state public 
schools," says Munroe {History of Educatio7i, p. 407), 
'*are wholly due in their origin to the Reformation. 
Their development and completion awaited the growth 
of the political idea that the welfare of the state depends 
upon the education of the individual citizen. The basis 
for all these modern systems of schools is found in the 
Reformation doctrine that the eternal warfare of ever>' 
individual depends upon the application of his own 
reason to the revelation contained in the Scriptures." 

The reformers were so persistent in this matter that 
they demanded not only the universal education of 
children of all classes and both sexes, but the compul- 
sory education as well. 

John Calvin did what he could for the establishment 



298 



The Sphere of Religion 



of schools at Geneva. Zwingle urged their general in- 
troduction in an able treatise on ''The Manner of 
Instructing and Bringing up Boys in a Christian Way/* 
and John Knox was the chief agent in establishing the 
parish school system of Scotland. 

But it was in Germany that the new ideas about 
education were advocated with the most persistent 
zeal. lyUther, Melanchthon, and many others worked 
heart and soul for a wider dissemination of the oppor- 
tunities for education and a truer conception of its 
function. Luther insisted upon the enlargement of the 
curriculum so as to include not only the classical lan- 
guages and mathematics, but histor}^, science, music, 
and gymnastics. It is chiefly due to Luther's efforts 
that music and physical education are made so much 
of in Germany to-day. 

lyUther was also a strong advocate of manual train- 
ing. " My opinion is," he declares, "that we must 
send the boys to school one or two hours a day, and 
have them learn a trade at home for the rest of the 
time. It is desirable that these two occupations march 
side by side." 

He argues in favor of a system of schools supported 
by general taxation that the general welfare of religion 
and of the state requires it. ' ' They [the magistrates], ' ' 
he says, "do not deal justly with their trust before 
God and the world unless they strive to their utmost, 
night and day, to promote the cit3^'s increase and 
prosperity. . . . But this is the best and the richest 
increase, prosperity, and strength of the city, that it 
shall contain a great number of polished, learned, in- 
telligent, honorable, and well-bred citizens, who, when 
they become all this, may then get wealth and put it 
to good use." The school systems of the Protestant 



What Religion has to Do with Education 299 

states of Europe are the result of his teachings and 
influence. 

Melanchthon, the famous professor of theology at 
Wittenberg, is called the Precepter of Germany be- 
cause he did so much to formulate and carry out 
lyUther's reforms. He not only made Wittenberg a 
model for the other universities of Germany, but, says 
Munroe (p. 415), ''There was scarcely a city in all 
Germany but had modified its schools according to 
Melanchthon' s direct advice or after his general direc- 
tion.'' His correspondence with fifty-six of these cities 
is still in existence. He wrote nearly all the text- 
books used in the lower schools of his day, as well as 
the system of Protestant theology which formed the 
basis of the instruction in the universities. 

Similar educational improvements were made in 
England by the reformers under the leadership of 
such men as Tyndale and Latimer, although the sec- 
ondary schools in that country, owing to the fact that 
they soon passed under the control of the national 
church, have not to this day been organized into any 
well-ordered system. 

When the Roman Catholic leaders began to realize 
the effectiveness of the Protestant schools in advancing 
the interests of their churches and in furthering the 
social and material well-being of the people, they at 
once resorted to the same means. The teaching orders 
adopted the new ideas and devoted themselves to put- 
ting them into execution. The strongest and most 
important of these orders was that of the Jesuits. They 
controlled education in the south of Europe and in 
France and were also lari;cly inilucntial in many ]Kirts 
of northern luiropc. For two hundred years accord in i; 
to some very competent judges theirs were the most 



300 The Sphere of Religion 

successful educational institutions in existence, a great 
proportion of the leading men of Europe during that 
period being educated in them. 

Since the time of the reformers and the Jesuits, sys- 
tems of education have changed far more rapidly than 
at any other period in history, and methods have 
greatly changed, but there has been no change in the 
fundamental motive of education. As in all previous 
history, the chief inspiring cause of education has been 
religion in some form. Christianity from its very in- 
troduction was the primary stimulus to education in 
all the lands where it gained a footing and it remains 
so to this day. 

This is shown just as truly from the history of the 
new world as from that of the old. The Dutch col- 
onists in America were required by the laws of Holland 
to plant a church in every one of their settlements. 
When the early settlers of New England came to these 
shores they brought the same devotion to education 
that had characterized the reformers of the mother 
country. Six years after the first settlement of Boston, 
Harvard College was organized, and the avowed pur- 
pose of its founders consisted ** in vindicating the truth 
of Christ and promoting his glorious kingdom.'' The 
original charter of Yale College declares the motive 
of the undertaking to be ''a sincere regard to and 
zeal for upholding and propagating of the Christian 
Protestant religion." 

The first general law for the establishment of public 
schools upon this continent was passed in 1647 ^Y the 
Massachusetts Bay Colony. The preamble to the law 
shows at once its dominant motive: ''It being one 
chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men 
from the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former 



What Religion has to Do with Education 301 

times, keeping them in an unknown tongue . . . ; and 
to the end that learning may not be buried in the 
graves of our forefathers in church and commonwealth, 
the lyOrd assisting our endeavors, — It is therefore or- 
dered," etc. Every town of fifty householders was 
required to establish an elementary school, and every 
town of one hundred householders a grammar school. 
These institutions, and others like them, have been the 
chief means for carrying on the education of the people 
in this country ever since, however much counses of 
study have changed, and the way of supporting the 
teachers has varied. 

The great leaders in education, practically without 
exception, have always been more desirous of helping 
on the application of religious principles to every form 
of human activity than they have been of anything 
else, and there is not the slightest probability that men 
and women who are publicly known to be antagonistic 
to such principles will ever be given the general con- 
trol of the schools, either of this or of any other civilized 
land. 

Comenius, whom a scholarly writer extols as '*the 
man whose theories have been put into practice in ev- 
ery school that is conducted on rational principles,*' 
avowedly makes the ideas of religion determine the 
aim and scope of education. He gives as the primary 
principle of his Great Didactic, **the ultimate end of 
man is eternal happiness with God *' ; and he main- 
tains that this ultimate end can only be secured 
by a knowledge of oneself and of one's environment, 
a position which even in our lime is not yet fully 
recognized and approved. 

In his famous work, Ho7v Gertrude Teaches, Pesta- 
lozzi expressly declares that the prime object of educa- 



302 The Sphere of Religion 

tion is to ** build up humanity in the image of God.'* 
What he rails at is the way taken to do it in his 
day. It is '^ the mania for words and books," he 
says, ** which has absorbed everything in our popular 
education. We ought not to make ability to commit 
to memory theological texts the aim of education, but 
the development of the child's entire nature — mental, 
moral, and physical." He made no attempt to change 
the ultimate end of education, but simply to improve 
the method of obtaining it. 

Herbart, who built upon and supplemented the work 
of Pestalozzi, took the same position, and all of the 
writings of Froebel, from which "have sprung the 
chief streams of present educational thought,'* are per- 
vaded by the most intense religious feeling. Of no 
man could it be more truthfully said that religion was 
his vital breath. *'A11 things,'* he declares in his 
Education of Man, ^' live and have their being in and 
through God. AH things are only through the divine 
effluence that lives in them. The divine effluence that 
lives in each thing is the essence of each thing." He 
is constantly reiterating the thought that the purpose 
of all existence is to reveal God, and the end of all 
education to develop the divine germ that lies in each 
one into full and complete accord with God. The 
reason he gives for making so much of nature study is 
the fact that nature reveals God to the child. He is to 
be developed, not as a preparation for a future world, 
nor for the sake of making an adult of him, but that 
he may constantly participate, to the full extent of his 
powers, in the unity of the life around him, all of which 
is divine. The aim of the kindergarten, for which 
Froebel has become so famous, is to aid the child to 
express himself and thus help him, in the most eflfec- 



What Religion has to Do with Education 303 

tive way, to begin the process of growing up into the 
divine likeness. 

From the beginning of history the educational prob- 
lem has remained essentially the same, but education 
is such a great subject that its aspects have constantly 
changed, and as the world progresses they will con- 
tinue to change. Some writers in recent times have 
with William James emphasized the psychological 
aspect. Some with Herbert Spencer and Huxley make 
the scientific aspect dominant. Others would give the 
first place to the sociological aspect. Professor Home, 
in his very able and interesting work on The Philosophy 
of Education, recently published, has at least a chapter 
on each of the following aspects of education : the bio- 
logical aspect, the physiological aspect, the sociological 
aspect, the psychological aspect, and the philosophical 
aspect. Each aspect is important, and all of them put 
together do not exhaust the theme. But each and 
every one of them is simply a phase of the religious 
aspect, when religion is properly defined. 

For religion is not to be confounded, as has generallj'' 
been the case in the past, with some church or so-called 
denomination. It has often in the course of liistory 
been most maltreated in the house of its alleged friends, 
and most royally entertained quite outside of any so- 
called sacred precincts. Nor is it to be confined to any 
single relationship of human life. 

In point of fact, the meaning of religion has in recent 
years undergone almost a revolution. As President 
Harris said in his baccalaureate address to the class of 
1907, at Amherst : " The Protestant Reformation itself 
did not work a greater, though perhaps a more violent 
change, than the last quarter of a century has marked 
in religious thought, belief, and life.*' 



304 The Sphere of Religio7t 

The world is now coming to realize as never before 
that love to man and interest in all that concerns his 
welfare in this world is just as essential to religion as 
love to God ; that the attempt to separate the one from 
the other is a gross per\'ersion of the truth. It is 
beginning to get the sense of the apostle John's in- 
quiry, ''he that loveth not his brother whom he hath 
seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen ? " 
and to appreciate the fact that if we take care to do the 
former, the latter will take care of itself. 

Religion in our day can no longer be set off by itself. 
It should be thought of as having to do with ever>^ 
phase of life. There is nothing that pertains to man 
that does not pertain to religion. As Sir Oliver Lodge 
puts it, in a noteworth}' article in the Conteiriporary 
Rez'iezv (vol. 86, p. 806), "the atmosphere of religion 
should be recognized as enveloping and permeating 
ever^'thing," and it permeates nothing so much as 
education. It is to-da}', as it has always been, its chief 
inspiring cause. It is now acknowledged as never be- 
fore to be the religious duty of ever^^ person to acquaint 
himself with the world in which he lives, to develop 
his powers in such a manner that he may get the most 
out of it he can for his rational development and use. 
It is also seen as never before to be his religious dut3^ 
to help his neighbor attain the same worthy ends. No 
person can do anything to elevate himself or others 
without ideals. But all the material out of which ideals 
are constructed comes to us from our contact with the 
world about us, which is the product of God. In other 
words, in order to see anything at all in this universe 
we must have a light, and the master light of all our 
seeing is God. 

A great many different definitions have been given 



What Religion has to Do with Education 305 

to the term education in the course of history, and they 
were never so numerous as at present. James defines 
education as ' ' the organization of acquired habits of 
action such as will fit the individual to his physical and 
social environment." Dewey defines it as '' the process 
of remaking experience, giving it a more socialized 
value through increased individual experience, by giv- 
ing the individual better control over his own powers." 
Munroe, after pointing out that the meaning of educa- 
tion in our day is found in the attempt to combine and 
to balance the two elements of personal development 
and social service, gives, as his final definition, ''the 
process of conforming the individual to the given social 
standard or type in such a manner that his inherent 
capacities are developed, his greatest usefulness and 
happiness obtained, and, at the same time, the highest 
welfare of society is conserved " {^History of Educatioii, 
PP- 755> 756)- ^^t it is hard to see how a clearer, more 
compact, or more satisfactory definition of education 
can be devised than that of President Butler. He de- 
scribes it as the '' gradual adjustment of the individual 
to the spiritual possessions of the race." 

This definition rightly emphasizes the fact that man 
is a spiritual being and is capable of education for that 
reason. All nature is the embodiment of the ideas of 
a spirit and hence it is intelligible to man, at least in 
some degree. He can put himself into harmonious re- 
lations with it and make use of it for his enjoyment 
and edification. Because a man's relations to his 
fellows are spiritual relations, he can acquaint him- 
self with them and take an interest in what they have 
accomplished in the past and are doing in the present. 

In these modern times we are seeing as never before 
that nothing in this universe is foreign to man. Every- 



3o6 The Sphere of Religion 

where he discovers his own spirit reflected in it. To 
put oneself in harmonious relationship with this uni- 
verse in which we live, in all the variety of its 
manifestations, is at once the highest aim of education 
and the chief religious duty of every son of man. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE CHURCH AND THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY/ 

At the very outset of my paper, I wish to say that I 
have written it on the assumption that there are in this 
world three equally divine institutions, — the family, 
the state, and the church. I also take it for granted 
that whatever affects any member of the human race in 
his relation to one of these institutions affects him in 
them all. I shall, therefore, use most of the time 
allotted to me in trying to explain how the right to 
property originates, and what is involved in that right, 
leaving its various applications for the most part to 
your own good judgment. 

The moment we begin to reflect upon the matter, we 
cannot help seeing that the right to property is one of 
the most sacred rights of man. We cannot imagine 
a people so degraded as to be entirely devoid of the 
idea of property, and no community has ever enjoyed 
prosperity or attained a high degree of culture where 
the idea was held in slight esteem. Indeed, we may 
justly measure the progress of a people in civilization 
and true worth by the clearness with which they appre- 
hend this idea and the completeness with which they 
apply it to the ownership and use of every commodity 
that ministers to human needs. 

But, sacred as this right is, we greatly err, in my 

^ Address delivered before the N. Y. State Assoc, of Congre- 
gational Churches, May, 1907. 

307 



3o8 The Sphere of Religion 

opinion, if we suppose that the ground of the right to 
property is first possession. No man gains a just title 
to a thing because he came upon it before some one else. 
If a person to-day should discover a new island in the 
Pacific he would not for that reason have a right to 
undisputed possession. Suppose a band of shipwrecked 
sailors should be cast upon its shores. He could not 
justly claim that the fruits and springs and other means 
of subsistence he found there were exclusively his. The 
new world was not the property of Columbus because 
he discovered it, nor did it belong exclusively to the 
scattered bands of savages that occasionally roamed 
over its surface. Possession and use of a thing can 
never be an ultimate ground of ownership. Something 
else must come in to determine whether or not that 
possession be just. 

We should equally err in maintaining that the right 
to property is founded upon a decree of the govern- 
ment. *^ Property and laws,'* says Bentham, **were 
born together, and will die together. Before law there 
was no property ; take away the law and all property 
ceases.** The natural consequence of this doctrine is 
that what the statute could make it could at any time 
unmake. It necessitates the view that there is no right 
to property back of the decrees of government. If this 
were true, justice would have no place in determining 
the possession and use of property. All would be 
settled by an arbitrary fiat. The governors might at 
any time decree that all property should belong to 
themselves alone, and no voice could justly be raised 
to call the act in question. 

Property may rightly be defined as the fruit of human 
labor. If there were no men in the world, there would 
be no property. Man alone is the creator of all prop- 



The Church and the Right to Property 309 

erty. By his labor he imparts an interchangeable value 
to things, and this is the beginning of his progress. 
Man is capable of civilization because he can produce 
property. Other animals are swifter in the chase, bet- 
ter protected from the cold, and better armed for strife. 
But they cannot produce property, and therefore cannot 
advance beyond a certain fixed limit. They can be 
property, but not the owners and controllers of prop- 
erty. Man, however, because he is active, intelligent, 
and free, — because he is a person, — can so impress his 
personality on the objects of nature about him by his 
labor as to acquire a just title to property. In a highly 
civilized community there is scarcely a clod of earth or 
a leaf that does not bear that impress. 

Thus we see that the maxim ' ' To the doer belongs 
his deed " is as true of property as of morals. A man's 
natural right to anything comes from the labor he has 
expended upon it, and is determined by the extent of 
that labor. Whatever laws the civil power may make 
concerning the possession and use of property, it can 
never justly ignore this right and treat it as though it 
did not exist, any more than it can justl}^ ignore any 
other natural right. 

But a matter of supreme importance, in my opinion, 
to the proper treatment of the subject of property is the 
fact that a natural right is not of necessity an ultimate 
right. The natural right to property, like the natural 
right to ''life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,'* 
is never an absolute right. These rights, one and all, 
may justly be sacrificed in case the needs of the com- 
munity require it. If a man's life and liberty are at 
the disposal of the body-politic, how much more is his 
property ? 

Tlie true state is an organism, and individuals are 



3 1 o The Sphere of Religion 

the members of that organism. The well-being of the 
organism as a whole is the thing of greatest moment, 
and should be the point of view from which to treat the 
various parts. In the normal condition of affairs the 
lungs and heart are best developed by developing 
the whole body. Every human being finds the true 
sphere for the exercise of his natural rights in his con- 
nection with his fellows in their corporate capacity as a 
state. 

The natural right to property, therefore, is ultimately 
resolvable into a state right. The people, as an organic 
brotherhood, are to decide what disposition is to be 
made of all property. While the good of the individual 
and the preservation of his right to the products of 
his labors are of great importance, the welfare of the 
brotherhood as a whole is of far more importance, and 
should be the point of view from which the laws con- 
trolling the possession and use of property are finally 
determined. 

The laws of property that the state enacts will seldom 
need to set aside the natural right to property, but what- 
ever they may be, they should never fail to be founded 
upon and to accord with the following : 

I . The supreme ownership of all the natural sources of 
property is with the body-politic. The land, the water, 
and the air and all that they contain are the common 
possession of the race. They are under the supreme 
control of the whole people in their organic capacity as 
a state. Inasmuch as the support of every man is de- 
rived from the soil, the very existence of the state would 
be imperilled if the supreme ownership of the soil were 
not vested in the state itself. That the community, and 
not the individuals of the community, originally owned 
the land is one of the best attested facts of history. 



The Church and the Right to Property 3 1 1 

Indeed, no state has ever given up that ownership. It 
has only allowed individuals under certain conditions 
and limitations to possess and use its territory. If a 
state should unconditionally give up its control, it would 
thereby cease to be a state. Its sovereignty would be 
gone. It would lose the very thing that makes it a state, 
and instead of one state, as many states as there were in- 
dividuals would suddenly spring into being. If a state 
at any time adopts the system of individual control of 
its territory, the titles to the land are derived from the 
state, and each citizen holds his land ever subject to the 
control of the state. Whenever the land of the commu- 
nity gets into the hands of the few to the exclusion and 
injury of the many, or whenever the good of the state 
for any reason requires it, these titles may justly be 
revoked and individual control abolished. The state 
is constantly doing it in the exercise of the Right of 
Eminent Domain, and never was doing it to such an 
extent as at present. We have every reason to ex- 
pect that as the needs of intercommunication increase, 
and the people become better acquainted with the many 
injurious effects of the present system, individual owner- 
ship will be much further limited. It is vain to argue, 
it seems to me, that any system of land tenure is of 
necessity the best system. The state should change 
its system with the needs of the people and keep it as 
nearly as possible in harmony with those needs. 

2. The state has the ultimate control of and responsi- 
bility for the methods of acquiring property. If the 
sources of property are under the supreme control of 
the state, it is easy to see that all property derived from 
those sources shotild be under its control also. No in- 
dividual can justly take any of the materials of wealth 
without the consent of the state and by his labor make 



312 The Sphere of Religion 

them his property ; and the state can never rightly give 
this consent except with the limitation that the ultimate 
ownership and control of all property is with itself. 
While the state, therefore, fully recognizes the natural 
right to property that comes from labor, it cannot re- 
gard this right as absolute, but must itself determine 
in what way and by what means property is to be ac- 
quired. It must prescribe the legitimate spheres of 
labor and check the wicked and useless expenditure of 
labor. It should prevent by every means in its power 
the acquisition of property by trickery, by chance, by 
counterfeiting, by combinations to force up prices with- 
out increasing values, and by immoral practices of every 
sort. 

Any system of acquiring property that is not based 
on labor cannot contribute to the well-being of man. 
For the only thing that is worthy of reward is work. It 
is a sound principle of statecraft, as well as of morality, 
that he who will not work shall not eat. As President 
Hyde has well said in his excellent little work on 
Practical Ethics : ** An able-bodied man who does not 
contribute to the world at least as much as he takes out 
of it is a beggar and a thief.'' 

The fact that the government of a state has adopted 
in one set of circumstances certain regulations for the 
individual accumulation of property and has found them 
to contribute to the general welfare, is no sufl&cient rea- 
son why they should be continued at another time, under 
a diflFerent set of circumstances. When a country is new, 
with much to be done and few to do it, laws concerning 
the accumulation of property may with reason greatly 
vary from what they should be in a country where the 
conditions are just the opposite. 

3. But the body-politic is not merely the supreme 



The Church and the Right to Property 313 

power for determining the waj^s in which property can 
be acquired. It is also the supreme authority for de- 
termining how it should be used after it is acquired. 
No individual member of the state has a right to use 
his property as he pleases. If he pleases to use it for 
the injury of the state, to degrade and demoralize his 
fellows, the state through its government should put a 
limit upon his use and, if necessary, deprive him of it 
altogether. 

The principle of confiscation is a clear recognition of 
this right. All nations agree that if a citizen uses his 
property to abet the enem}^ in time of war he has vio- 
lated the first principles of government, and has by this 
act cut himself off" from his normal relation to the com- 
munity and deprived himself of the advantage that 
before belonged to him as a member of that community. 
The original condition on which the state allowed him 
the control of his property has disappeared and his 
individual right to the use of it has disappeared 
also. 

Any crime of any character constitutes a sufficient 
reason for the state to limit the use of property, and the 
more serious the crime, the greater may be that limita- 
tion. Incorrigible criminals of every description should 
not be allowed in any degree the free use of property, 
for they constantly show by their repeated acts of law- 
lessness their unworthiness of such a trust. 

Property that is devoted to a good end and is accom- 
plishing a worthy purpose in one generation may not do 
so in another. The state, therefore, should never allow 
property to be devoted for an inilimited period to the 
promotion of any enteq)rise. At any time when the 
state discovers that the welfare of the people is not fur- 
thered by such an enterprise, it should see to it that the 



I 



314 The Sphere of Religion 

property that supports it is devoted to some other end 
that does promote that welfare. 

The doctrine of the Inviolability of Vested Rights 
rests on a false conception of the right of property, and 
before the true conception has no foundation whatever. 
The true state will never allow any individual or collec- 
tion of individuals to hold and use property any longer 
than such holding contributes to the common good. 
The moment it ceases to do so, that moment the vested 
right becomes violable. 

The government of one generation can never unalter- 
ably bind a future generation as to its use of property. 
It can never grant a franchise for the use of property 
that a future generation cannot annul, or make a con- 
tract that a future generation cannot break. The word 
*' forever " in any document concerning the possession 
and use of property is therefore a pure fiction, and the 
sooner it is read out of court the better. 

Because a government has once allowed corporations 
to be formed for the investment and use of property is 
no reason why they should be continued in existence 
when they cease to promote the public welfare. It is 
not only the right but the duty of the state to legislate 
them out of existence when it becomes clear that some 
other method of holding and using property will better 
further the well-being of the people. 

4. What we have said concerning the accumulation 
and use of property is equally true of the transfer and 
descent of property . Here also the state has the ultimate 
and supreme control. For there is no way of making 
property contribute to the welfare of the community as 
a whole, or of its individual members, unless the state 
has the right to determine what power of transfer the 
holder shall have as between himself and his contem- 



The Church and the Right to Property 315 

poraries, and how far his acts shall control the use made 
of his property by the generations that follow him. All 
contracts, bequests, deeds of sale, wills, and the like 
must, therefore, be subject to the authority of the state, 
and if made without that authority must be regarded 
as having no binding force. 

To what extent a dead hand should be allowed to hold 
property or a dead brain to control it is becoming in our 
day a very serious question. It is perfectly clear that 
no such bequests of property should stand if they plainly 
interfere with the progress of humanity. But if the 
state sees fit to grant the privilege on the ground that 
labor will be most effectually stimulated thereby, it 
should at best be a limited privilege. For no man can 
possibly foresee what will be the need of all coming 
generations, and thus he cannot in any sense possess 
a right to say what disposition shall be made of what 
was once his property to supply that need. 

The superstitious reverence that many still have for 
the dead hand and brain would disappear in the light of 
a true conception of the sacredness of contracts. Living 
beings alone can make contracts. A dead person can- 
not make a contract with a live one, or a live person 
with a dead one. A father, while living, cannot make 
a binding contract for his own children even, after a 
certain period. Honor and reverence are due to all the 
worthy who have preceded us, but these things can 
never rightly be made a matter of contract. The wealth 
of the past would be of comparatively little value to us if 
we did not constantly renew it. There can be no moral 
obligation, therefore, upon the state to have property 
descend exactly as the fathers desire. The wealth of 
any generation is to be used pre-eminently for the good 
of that generation, to supply present needs, to establish 



3i6 The Sphere of Religion 

and maintain the ideas of the present, not to keep alive 
and extend the exploded notions of the past. 

Many of the conditions attached to bequests under 
our present system are frequently more honored in the 
breach than in the observance. Clauses in wills are 
often justly declared null and void by the courts be- 
cause they require the legatee to do something that is 
counter to ** public policy." The state has not only 
the right but the duty to assume full control of the be- 
quests and legacies of any institution that has outgrown 
its usefulness, as well as one that is supporting prac- 
tices or promulgating doctrines that are injurious to 
the public good. Beyond all question it should devote 
them to purposes that meet the needs of the present, and 
advance the civilization of man. 

When for any reason the wealth of the community 
has become concentrated into the hands of the few, 
injury to the public well-being of the most disastrous 
character is almost sure to follow. So great is the 
power that possessors of vast fortunes have over the 
daily lives and services of great multitudes, that when 
more than one half of the property of the United States, 
with its 85,000,000 of inhabitants, is owned by about 
100,000 men, it is certainly time to call the justice of 
our laws seriously in question. 

No tyranny is so dangerous to public life and morals 
as the tyranny of money. For there will be little virtue 
left in a people whose actions are determined for them 
by dollars and cents. 

It may reasonably be doubted, it seems to me, whether 
any human being in the short space of three score years 
and ten, to say nothing of one score years, can justly 
acquire by his labor the control over the lives of his 
fellows represented by ten millions of dollars or even one 



The Church and the Right to Property 317 

half that amount. At all events, one of the imperative 
needs of our time is an effectual check upon the amaz- 
ingly skilful and elaborate devices, now so common, of 
getting possession of the property of the country with- 
out rendering an equivalent. There is every reason to 
suppose that a limit upon the power of inheritance will 
be such a check. The government, being finite, may 
often be unable to discover to what extent an individual 
has brought under his control the property of the coun- 
try. At his death this is far less difiicult. If the 
courts were empowered to assess and collect an in- 
heritance tax, graduated in amount according to the 
needs and conditions of the legatees, the evil effects of 
vast fortunes continuing in the hands of single in- 
dividuals would be largely mitigated. The time ought 
not to be far distant when our state and national taxes 
should be chiefly collected from this source. 

Those who have been allowed to get possession of the 
property of the country should at least pay the taxes of 
the country. Unjust taxation is one of the chief evils 
of our time. The rich can and generally do escape their 
share of the burden. Under our present system it is 
such an easy thing for rich men to evade the payment 
of taxes that even the best of them can hardly resist 
the temptation. The poor man without money enough 
to own his home can conceal nothing, and has no 
palace in the country where for the purposes of taxation 
he can take up his legal residence. The present sys- 
tem is so manifestly vicious and leads to such a marked 
opprCvSsion of the poor that every voice in favor of the 
righteous use of property should be raised against it. 
Lord Asquith's plan of mitigating the social evils of 
Kngland at the expense of inherited wealth should 
have the hearty support of every right-minded man in 



3i8 The Sphere of Religion 

the kingdom, and be copied in every other land. For, 
as another so truthfully expresses it, ^* every workman 
must be constantly reminded of the fact that, while 
numbers are unable to obtain a sufl&ciency of the neces- 
saries of life, others have so much superfluous wealth 
that they are able to squander it in useless and mis- 
chievous luxuries, and never devote themselves to one 
hour's useful employment.*' 

After all I have said on this subject of property, I 
have to admit that there is nothing new about these 
doctrines. For they are as old as history itself, and 
were, in my opinion, as clear to the mind of the writer 
of Genesis as they could be to any mind to-day. The 
first people to discover and to proclaim to the world, so 
far as I am aware, the true conception of the origin 
and the nature of the right to property were the ancient 
Hebrews. From the first of Genesis to Revelation the 
ground of the ownership of property is always labor, 
and the order of ownership is always first God, then 
the race, then the individual. Neither Moses nor Jesus 
ever put the individual before the race, or in any way 
called this order in question. That ** The earth is the 
Lord's and the fulness thereof," for the reason that 
*' In the beginning God created the heaven and the 
earth," was the starting point of all Hebrew thought. 

And their next great central idea was that the first 
pair, who were the first representatives of the race and 
historically the first state, being children of God and 
endowed with divine powers, got their right to the 
possession of the earth and its contents by obedience 
to the divine command to ** subdue it : and have do- 
minion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the 
air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the 
face of the earth." Individual ownership they always 



The Church and the Right to Property 319 

regarded as secondary to race ownership, and to be al- 
lowed only as it contributed to the good of the com- 
munity as a whole. 

Every man should be taught to have a reverence for 
property, but it should not be a superstitious or irra- 
tional reverence. If his notion of the right to the 
possession and use of property harmonizes with the 
biblical conception, it harmonizes, in my opinion, with 
the best economic philosophy and the highest interests 
of man. The only fitting watchword for the treatment 
of property in our day is, — Back to Moses, Back to 
Christ. 

The circumstances of our age have brought the sub- 
ject vitally to the firont, and the great mass of the 
people will not long give their allegiance to any church 
that puts it in the background. We do not have in 
this country a state church, but what we can and ought 
to have is a church state, — a state in which the mem- 
bers of our churches actually show by their conduct 
that they love their neighbors as themselves. For the 
churches are ultimately responsible for the character of 
our laws, and what they will unite in demanding, they 
can have. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THK CHURCH AND THK MODKRN STATK.* 

In a book written nearly two thousand years ago by 
a heathen of Boeotia, in ancient Greece, we read these 
words : '* Go over the world and you may find cities 
without walls, without theatres, without money, with- 
out art ; but a city without a temple, or an altar, or 
some order of worship, no man ever saw/* 

This statement is as true in the first quarter of the 
twentieth century of the Christian era as when it was 
first uttered, and no one at all familiar with the results of 
modern investigation and research can reasonably call it 
in question. Even the cannibals of Southern Africa, the 
most degraded, perhaps, of all the races of men, carry 
their fetishes with them in all their undertakings, and 
hide them in their waist-cloth whenever they are about 
to do anything of which they feel ashamed. ** There 
is no need,'* writes Dr. Livingstone in his Journals, 
** for beginning to tell the most degraded of these people 
of the existence of God or of a future state — the facts 
being universally admitted.*' 

All observation and experience justify the assertion 
that every man is born a worshipper. He is so made 
that in the very act of coming to a knowledge of 
his own existence he intuitively knows himself as 
related to a higher Power. He instinctively believes 
that he is indebted for his existence to this Power, 

^ Reprinted from the author's The Sphere of the State. 

320 



The Church and the Modern State 321 

and that he owes to him the worship and service of his 
life. It is difficult to overestimate the influence of this 
religious element in human nature upon the course of 
history. It is hardly too much to sa}^ that it is now, and 
always has been, the most important single factor in 
determining the progress of mankind. ' ' As an histori- 
cal fact," says another, *^ nations and governments and 
religions have everywhere a connection, not only most 
intimate, but which has thus far shown itself indis- 
soluble. If we look more closely into this historical 
fact, w^e find that the controlling element in their con- 
nection has ever been the religious one. Nations and 
governments have not formed their religion, but their 
religion has formed them." In other words, the more 
fully men realize their relation to God as their common 
Father, the more clearly will they recognize their rights 
and duties to one another as brethren and thus discover 
the only secure foundation upon which to ground the 
state. 

In one sense of the term every human being is as 
truly a member of the church as of the family or state. 
For every person is by nature related to God, as well 
as to his parents and his fellows. In this sense the 
church is one and indivisible and includes every human 
being. Like the family and the state it cannot be 
created to-day and destroyed to-morrow, and like them 
it is of divine origin. For man is so made by his 
Creator that whether he will or no he must be a subject 
of the divine government as well as of the human. 

In another sense of the term the church is manifold. 
There may rightly exist in the w^orld as many indi- 
vidual churches as the good of the universal church 
requires. A true church is foinid in human history 
whenever a community of human beings join together 



32 2 The Sphere of Religion 

to worship and serve their Maker. Each church 
approaches perfection as a church just in proportion 
as the idea of a common divine sonship is realized in 
its members both in themselves and in all their mutual 
relations. In this sense of the term no church is per- 
manent. Old churches should be dissolved and new- 
ones formed whenever the religious needs of man re- 
quire it. 

No civil government can justly ignore the church, 
any more than it can justly fail to acknowledge its 
relation to the family. To attempt to treat the church 
and the state as utterly distinct is as unreasonable as 
to succeed in such an undertaking is impossible. For 
** no civil government can stand in the neglect of all 
religion, and no community can maintain its freedom 
without a government in some way acknowledging a 
religion." The chief question before every state is not 
whether it has any relation to the church within its 
borders, but how to determine what that relation ought 
to be. 

Four different answers have been given to this ques- 
tion in the cotuse of history and still have their respec- 
tive advocates : 

I. Some hold that the state should be subordinate 
to the church and should act simply as the agent of 
the church, getting all the authority and power it pos- 
sesses from the church and not from itself. ** All na- 
tions without exception have commenced with this re- 
gime. There are none which have not been governed 
at first by a religious power.'* As an historical fact, 
religion has been the only power that could check the 
wanderings of nomadic tribes and so fix them to the 
soil as to make them accessible to the demands of a 
civilized life. That all primitive governments were 



The ChMTch and the Modern State 323 

theocratic is now established be3^ond all reasonable 
dispute. The seventh book of the Code of Manu is 
devoted entirely to the enumeration of the duties of 
kings. In India and the Orient from the earliest times 
religion has been dominant. In the greater part of 
Europe during the Middle Ages the church was supreme 
over all classes and conditions and kept a strong hand 
upon civil government. 

In the infancy of a nation the dominance of the 
church over civil government is undoubtedly a great 
blessing. Barbarous and undisciplined tribes cannot 
otherwise be taught a reverence for law and thus 
made capable of being brought under the yoke of a 
civilized life. 

In the chaos that followed the wreck of the Roman 
empire, the Catholic Church was almost the sole re- 
maining bond of social unity. The bishops were the 
only persons that commanded the respect of the 
barbaric hordes that overran the south of Europe. 

But what the church did in the degenerate times of 
the Middle Ages, and did wisely and well, it should 
not of necessity do or desire to do in other times and 
under other conditions. No one has more clearl}^ or 
accurately expressed the true position on this point 
than the great Catholic writer Dr. Von Schulte. In 
treating of the legitimate objects of the church in our 
day, he says: *' During the Middle Ages, we see an 
infinity of objects drawn into its domain, with which, 
at first glance, it would seem to have nothing to do. 
. . . But it cannot be ignored that its direct action, 
so far as its end and mission are concerned, has not so 
broad an aim now, and that consequently no place in 
things non-essential belongs to it, that none such is 
necessary or can appear necessary to it, and that it has 



324 The Sphere of Religion 

no right to such a place. Rather can the immediate 
and ever-legitimate aim of the church be this and this 
only : man in his moral and religious relations. If 
the church here attains its object, harmony will of 
itself follow.'' 

2. Another view of the relation of the state to the 
church is that the state is absolute master over the 
religious beliefs and modes of worship of its subjects 
as truly as over their secular aflfairs. When the Re- 
ligious Peace was concluded at the Diet of Augsburg, in 
1555, the assembled princes adopted the direful maxim : 
*' aijus est regio^ ejus religio^'^ the religion of the ruler 
is the religion of the land. 

Neither Melanchthon nor lyUther were blind to the 
evil consequences of this system. ' ' If the courts wish, ' ' 
wrote I^uther to his friend Cresser, **to govern the 
churches in their own interests, God will withdraw his 
benediction from them, and things will become worse 
than before. Satan still is Satan. Under the popes 
he made the church meddle in politics ; in our time 
he wishes to make politics meddle with the church.'' 

The prerogative of the prince to impose his own re- 
ligion upon his subjects makes him by right the head 
of the church and puts the administration of ecclesi- 
astical affairs under the general administration of the 
country. This continues even to our day to be the 
law of Protestant Germany. But it is rarely heeded. 
The German princes have always been, as a nile, far 
more tolerant than their laws and have allowed public 
opinion, *' which is nowhere so independent in relig- 
ious matters as in Germany," to guide their conduct. 
Russia is the only country in which this theory has 
been put into actual practice. When the patriarchs at 
Moscow, urged on by the Russian bishops, broke with 



The Church and the Modern State 325 

the patriarch of Constantinople, they sought for many 
generations to make themselves supreme in the church; 
but Peter the Great frustrated their designs in 1791 by 
declaring that he himself was the head of the church 
as well as the state, and he thoroughly reorganized 
the entire religious system of Russia on that basis. 
The result is Russia herself. It is a debatable ques- 
tion whether she has a just claim to a place among 
civilized nations. So long as a man remains a man, 
his morality and piety must stand quite outside the 
sphere of government, divine or human. True relig- 
ious belief and worship must ever be the act of a free 
being, and it is not only absurd, but impossible, for a 
government to coerce its subjects to the adoption of 
any religious system whatever as a matter of thought 
and life. 

3. A third theory concerning the connection of the 
church with the state is that they are both sovereign 
powers, and that the relation between them is to be 
determined by a series of concordats. Concordats have 
repeatedly been made in China and Japan between the 
spiritual powers and the emperors or tycoons. In our 
day in Christian lands they are almost always com- 
pacts made between temporal sovereigns and the popes. 
They have been aptly described as treaties of peace 
between the civil and religious powers. Their main 
object is to put an end to disputes that are equally 
dangerous to both parties, and with very rare exceptions 
they are the results of a long struggle. 

The most famous of the earlier of these compacts 
was the concordat of Worms in 11 22. Henry V. had 
been to Rome with an army and compelled the Pope to 
crown him Kmperor and concede to him the right of 
investiture. When he returned to Germany the Pope 



? ^6 The Sphere of Religioji 



o 



revoked the concession and excommunicated him. 
The long controversy' that followed was for the time 
settled by this concordat, in which it was agreed that 
the Emperor should first invest with the sceptre, and 
then consecration should take place by the church 
with the ring and the staff. 

Another good illustration of the compromise charac- 
ter of concordats is the famous compact that Xapoleon 
forced upon the representative of Pius VII. in 1801. 
By this agreement the clergy became subject to the 
civil power, hke laymen, in all temporal matters ; and, 
though the Pope had ven' large powers secured to him 
in matters of discipline, the appointment to all the 
bishoprics was retained by the government and all 
the appointees were obliged to swear allegiance to the 
republic. 

Concordats by their ver^' nature can never be final, 
for thej- are based on concessions that are never en- 
tirely satisfactory' to either of the contracting parties. 
In all countries where they exist it has been necessary' 
to modify them unceasingly, or replace them by en- 
tirely new ones. France, during the 19th century, 
had three different concordats, and many times that 
number in recent years have been made and abolished 
in Germany and Austria. The struggle goes on under 
the regime of concordats in nearly the same form as 
before their establishment. 

Xo state, if it can possibly avoid it, should ever 
make contracts of this sort with any outside power. 
If compelled to do so it should submit to the imposi- 
tion only under protest, and as a temporary device for 
warding off far greater ills that would be sure to come 
to the body-politic if it persisted in the endeavor to 
maintain its right of sovereign power. France, for ex- 



I 



The Church a7id the Modern State 327 

ample, was obliged, in the condition of affairs that long 
prevailed in that country, scrupulously to observ^e the 
existing concordat in order to continue her present 
form of government. But the time finally came when 
she was able to throw off all allegiance to any outside 
sovereign power, and provide in a more eflScient and 
consistent manner for the nation's religious needs. 

4. The fourth proposed theory is that the church and 
the state are so utterly distinct, their spheres of action 
are so entirely different, that their absolute separation 
is the only solution of the problem before us that can 
be permanent, and can carry us back to the ultimate 
ground. The simplicity of this solution must be evi- 
dent to the most thoughtless observer. But its sim- 
plicity is its only redeeming feature. All histor}- is 
against it, and reason is against it. No nation has 
ever yet been able to get along without religion, and 
religion has never yet flourished without houses of 
worship and a properly supported religious service. 

The state can no more cut itself off from the church 
than it can from the family. It stands in the same 
relation to the one as to the other. A recent writer 
in the North American Rcvieiv advocates the absolute 
separation of the state from the family. He claims 
that the government should not in any way attempt 
to regulate marriage and divorce, but should leave the 
matter of the formation and continuance of the family 
wholly to the pleasure of the parties. Few seriously 
minded thinkers will, however, agree with him in this 
opinion. But it is no more absurd a doctrine than the 
absolute separation of church and state. Fortunately 
there is no danger of the doctrine ever being put into 
actual practice. For its realization is an impossibility. 
So long as man remains upon the earth these three 



328 The Sphere of Religion 

divinely established institutions will remain in such 
intimate and vital relations to one another that any 
injury to one will be an injury to all, and any good to 
one will be a benefit to all. It is only in a state of in- 
sanity, as at the time of the French Revolution, that 
any people have ever taken up arms against religion 
and sought as a body-politic to cut themselves oflF from 
its benign and civilizing influence. 

5. The true relation of the state to the church is 
that of mutual helpfulness. They should not act as 
two antagonistic powers, or two mutually exclusive 
powers, but as two divinely commissioned institutions, 
both having to do with man, but the one with man in 
his relation to his fellows, and the other with man in 
his relation to his Maker. So far as its earthly form 
of organization is concerned, the church should be 
subject to the state, as the only sovereign temporal 
power ; but so far as its religious belief and worship 
are concerned, it should be its own sovereign master. 

No state can justly ignore or belittle the religious 
convictions of its members. On the contrary, it should 
do what it can to bring those convictions into harmony 
with its own ideas as to what the public good requires. 
It should foster and encourage the practice of that re- 
ligion whose teachings concerning the nature of man 
and his relations to his fellows most fully accord with 
its own conception of those relations. Neither the 
Mohammedan nor the Buddhistic religions are founded 
on ideas that harmonize with the true conception of 
the state, and therefore the state should not encourage 
the existence of their sway over its subjects. The only 
religion whose teachings accord with the conception 
of the state as an organic brotherhood is the Christian 
religion. Wholly on that ground is the state justified 



The Church and the Modern State 329 

in furnishing, in some way, the necessary means for 
obtaining instruction in the principles of this religion, 
and full opportunity for worshipping in accordance 
with its dictates to all who may desire. 

Every modern state ought to be a Christian state. 
By this we do not mean that every state ought to be 
ruled by a hierarchy according to the teachings of the 
Bible, or according to religious tradition. For this 
would be wholly antagonistic to the idea of Christian- 
ity, and at war with the historical development both 
of the church and the state. What we mean by the 
statement is simply that every state should be con- 
scious that the Christian religion is the religion of its 
people, and it should live up to, and act upon, this 
consciousness. It should recognize the fact that Chris- 
tianity is a fundamental condition of its own develop- 
ment, and '' is not only the basis, but the living element 
of our civilization.^' We cannot too strongly insist 
upon the importance to the welfare of the state, and 
the efl&cient administration of government, of keeping 
alive among the people a strong faith in a personal 
God, and his righteous government of the universe. 
For without this faith the spiritual bond that binds all 
men together as brethren would be broken, the very 
foundation of government would crumble into pieces, 
all unity in the order of the world would be lost, and 
the inevitable result would be anarchy and chaos. 

No writer has more accurately or more truthfully 
described the relation of Christianity to the develop- 
ment of the modern state than Bluntschli, who sum- 
marizes its beneficent effects in substance as follows: 
I. **It has awakened among the people a high sense 
of human dignity and honor. Since the time it first 
taught men to regard themselves as children of a 



33 o The Sphere of Religion 

common Father, the value of human life has been held 
in far higher esteem than ever before in human his- 
tory. 2. By the doctrine of the fatherhood of God it 
has brought men to a consciousness of their equality 
and fraternity in relation to one another. Acting as a 
liberating force upon all, even on the lowest class, the 
slaves, it gave a new foundation to the liberty of all, 
and has transformed the face of Europe. 3. It has put 
a legitimate restraint upon the power of monarchs by 
reminding them of their accountability to the Supreme 
Ruler, and by demanding of them that they should re- 
spect their subjects as their brethren in Christ. 4. It 
has revealed the affinity of all the races of the earth, 
and by opposing the narrow spirit of sectionalism with 
its doctrine of the unity of the human species, it be- 
came the source of a higher and nobler conception of 
the moral principles that should regulate the inter- 
course of nations, and thus laid the foundations for the 
eventual civilization of the world. '* 

** In proportion as nations come to understand human 
nature,'' Bluntschli continues, *' they will respect the 
religion which has guided them in their intellectual 
advance, and infinitely promoted their civilization. On 
this account the state, although now conscious of itself 
and grown independent, will, in the future, take into 
consideration the moral demands Christianity may 
make, and, so far as its laws and power permit, try to 
grant them. The religion of mankind and the politics 
of mankind — each adhering to its own principles — will 
continue in close and friendly reciprocal relations, and 
thus united they will best promote the welfare of the 
human race." 

In the light of these considerations it is not difficult 
to see that the question of an ** established religion '* 



The Church and the Modern State 331 

is merely a question of expediency to be settled by 
each generation as the need of the people may require. 
The position taken by one state on this matter in one 
set of circumstances is not, of necessity, a standard for 
another state in a different set of circumstances. For 
whether the religious wants of a community can be 
better satisfied by the direct action of the government, 
or by the system of private management and voluntary 
support, is not a question that alone by itself admits 
of a positive answer. Sometimes the former method 
should be followed, sometimes the latter. The cus- 
toms of the people in similar matters, their past his- 
tory, and all the present attendant circumstances, 
should be taken into consideration before coming to 
a final decision. If, for example, the property of the 
country has become concentrated in the hands of a 
few, and the mass of the people have not the means to 
build churches and support pastors, the govemment 
should raise the revenue needed by a direct tax. Means 
for the maintenance of religious instruction and places 
for worship should in some way be provided by the 
people. If it cannot be done, or will not be done, by 
voluntary contributions, the government should not 
hesitate to act in the matter, any more than in provid- 
ing instruction and discipline in anything else that is of 
importance to the welfare of the state. Nor is there 
any reason, in the nature of the case, why religious in- 
struction and opportunity to worship should not con- 
tinuously be furnished by the government, if it is the 
general desire of the people to have the matter attended 
to in that manner. 

The possible disadvantages of such a system are 
obvious : it might tend to minimize the importance of 
religion as an individual matter, and to check the 



332 The Sphere of Religion 

independent growth and development of religious sen- 
timent. It might result in putting a premium on 
deception as to one's religious convictions for fear of 
incurring the displeasure of the government. It might 
lead some to array themselves against the government 
for compelling them to help support an institution in 
which they had no personal interest. 

But it also has its possible advantages. Being 
obliged, from the nature of the case, to recognize and 
foster religion, it might, by selecting a particular form, 
give greater definiteness to its support of religion than 
would otherwise be possible. It might often use the 
clergy directly, if necessary, for the furtherance of its 
own purposes. It might secure by this method a far 
higher degree of general religious culture. 

Every state in deciding on its course of action in 
this matter, as in every other, should take into consid- 
eration all the data of the case, and do whatever in its 
own judgment, in the given conditions, best conserves 
the good of all. 

Of course, no state is justified in taking the position 
that any one way of fostering religion is absolutely the 
best way, or that any one form of church government 
is absolutely the best form, even though it should 
claim that the Christian religion is actually the only 
religion in history that teaches ideas that are consonant 
with the true conception of the state. For evidently 
there may be in a Christian state many different ways 
of looking at the Christian religion, and as many 
forms of church government as there are forms of civil 
government. Because a given form was beneficial to 
the religious progress of mankind in one age and 
country under one set of circumstances, is no sufficient 
reason that it will continue to be so when the condi- 



The Church and the Modern State 't^i^i^ 

tions are wholly diflFerent. Nor should a form that 
failed to work well in an early period of history be 
wholly discarded for that reason in a later. The people 
of each generation have the same right to change the 
form of their church government as the form of their 
civil government. And the state ought to allow and 
sanction the change whenever the ends for which the 
church exists among men will be best promoted by so 
doing. 

The framers of our national Constitution undoubtedly 
voiced the will of the people of the United States when 
they inserted in the first amendment to that document 
the clause : *' Congress shall make no laws respecting 
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free 
exercise thereof." The ground of the opposition to 
this amendment at the time of its adoption was tiot at 
all the policy of the government regarding an estab- 
lishment of religion, but the need of any such amend- 
ment, as no one thought of advocating any other 
policy. Livermore of New Hampshire unhesitatingly 
declared, concerning all the amendments, that they 
were "of no more value than a pinch of snuff, since 
they were to secure rights never in danger.'' This 
clause in our national Constitution, however, does not 
prevent any of the separate States from passing any 
laws they please *' respecting an establishment of relig- 
ion," or treating the religious beliefs of their subjects 
in any way they may desire. The framers of this 
amendment were not indifferent to religion themselves, 
nor did they wish the United States to be so in the 
future. " Probably at the time of the adoption of the 
Constitution, and of the amendment to it, now under 
consideration," says Judge Story in \\\s Exposition of 
the ConstitutioJi, "the general, if not the universal. 



334 ^^^ Sphere of Religion 

sentiment in America was that Christianity ought to 
receive encouragement from the state, so far as was 
not incompatible with the private right of conscience 
and the freedom of religious worship. An attempt to 
level all religions, and to make it a matter of state 
policy to hold all in utter indifference, would have 
created universal disapprobation, if not universal 
indignation." 

It was clearly not the purpose of the makers of the 
Constitution to countenance the introduction of Mo- 
hammedanism, or Buddhism, or even infidelity, "but 
to exclude all rivalr}^ among Christian sects, and pre- 
vent any national ecclesiastical establishment which 
should give to a hierarchy the exclusive patronage of 
the national government." Every American colony, 
with the possible exception of Rhode Island, from its 
foundation down to the time of the forming of the 
Constitution, had openly supported some form of the 
Christian religion. And this amendment was adopted 
for the purpose of leaving the subject of religion ex- 
clusively to the separate commonwealths. At the first 
test case before the Supreme Court ' ' the decision was 
that the Constitution contained no clause guaranteeing 
religious liberty against the several States, which might 
make such regulations on the subject as they saw fit." 
Nor does the Constitution contain any clause prohibit- 
ing the national government from deciding what forms 
of religious belief it will tolerate, and what forms it 
will not. '' In deciding the Mormon cases," says Jus- 
tice Miller, '' the Supreme Court held that the pretence 
of a religious belief in polygamy could not deprive 
Congress of the power to prohibit it, as well as all 
other offences against the enlightened sentiment of 
mankind, ' ' 



The Church and the Modern State 335 

Many of the separate States have adopted constitu- 
tions limiting the action of their respective govern- 
ments even more stringently than Congress is limited 
by the clause already quoted. Art. I., Sec. 3, of the 
Constitution of New York begins as follows : *'The 
free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and 
worship without discrimination or preference shall for- 
ever be allowed in this State to all mankind, and no 
person shall be incompetent to be a witness on account 
of his opinions on matters of religious belief." The 
Constitution of Wisconsin is probably more stringent 
on this point than that of any other State in the Union. 
Besides the clause against *^ sectarian instruction " in 
the public school, the Constitution provides : " (i) The 
right of every man to worship Almighty God according 
to the dictates of his own conscience shall not be 
abridged. (2) Nor shall any man be compelled to 
attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or to 
maintain any ministry against his consent. (3) Nor 
shall any control or interference with the right of con- 
science be permitted, or any preference given by law 
to any religious establishments or modes of worship. 
(4) Nor shall any money be drawn from the treasury 
for the benefit of religious societies, or religious or 
theological seminaries.'* 

These provisions are undoubtedly in the main wise 
and beneficial in a country made up of so many differ- 
ent races and sects as ours. But, notwithstanding the 
fact that the word *' forever'' occurs so frequently in 
them, they are all subject to amendment or repeal 
whenever the people, in their organic capacity as a 
state, desire to make it. None of them, whether state 
or national, imply an absolute separation of the state 
from religion, or prohibit the giving of religious 



336 The Sphere of Religio7i 

instruction in our public schools, or elsewhere, if the 
good of the people requires it. Nor do they in any 
degree militate against the fact that the United States 
is a Christian nation ; and, while tolerating all relig- 
ions that do not tend to subvert the public good, 
especially encourages and fosters the religion of Christ. 

No one, it seems to me, has ever expressed more 
clearly the position that should be taken by ever^^ 
modem state on this subject than Judge Story in the 
work already referred to, in which he says : *'The 
right of a society or government to interfere in matters 
of religion will hardly be contested by any persons who 
believe that piet}^ religion, and morality are intimately 
connected with the well-being of the state, and indis- 
pensable to the administration of civil justice. The 
promulgation of the great doctrines of religion: the 
being, and attributes, and providence of one Almighty 
God ; the responsibility to him for all our actions, 
founded upon moral freedom and accoimtability ; a 
future state of rewards and punishments ; the cultiva- 
tion of all the personal, social, and benevolent virtues ; 
— these never can be a matter of indifference in any- 
well-ordered community. It is, indeed, diflScult to 
conceive how any civilized society can well exist with- 
out them. And, at all events, it is impossible for those 
who believe in the truth of Christianity as a divine 
revelation to doubt that it is the especial duty of gov- 
ernment to foster and encourage it among all the citi- 
zens and subjects. This is a point wholly distinct 
from that of the right of private judgment in matters 
of religion, and of the freedom of public worship ac- 
cording to the dictates of one's conscience.'' 

If at any time in the history of a state voluntary- 
associations do not furnish the people with proper re- 



The Church and the Modern State 337 

ligious instruction and proper opportunities for wor- 
ship, the state should not be left to suflFer. The 
government, if necessary, should establish and maintain 
a system that does adequately provide for the public 
need. The state should always regard religion as a 
means, not as an end. It should never try to compel 
its subjects to adopt any system of religious belief, or 
conform to any mode of worship. But it should furnish 
to every citizen full opportunity to acquaint himself 
with the essentials of religion, and grant him, also, 
every reasonable facility for giving expression to his 
religious belief in the forms of worship he may most 
desire. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THK SCIKNTIFIC MKTHOD IN THKOI.OGY.* 

The; correspondence between Professor St. George 
Mivart and Cardinal Vaughan concerning the Profes- 
sor's recent articles on the relation of educated Roman 
Catholics to the Bible marks a most significant epoch 
in the history of religious thought. It brings most 
strikingly to view the fact that the time is past when 
any one can serve the cause of true religion by ignoring 
the methods of modern science. It also makes clear 
and vivid the necessity of establishing our theological 
beliefs on just the same scientific basis as our beliefs in 
any other sphere of inquiry, if they are going to influ- 
ence in any effective way the thought of the future. 

The aim of the present paper is to set forth with clear- 
ness the principles that underlie all our beliefs, and then 
to show how these principles are to be applied to the 
particular field of investigation we now have in view. 

It is customary in discussing the method of science 
to go back to Aristotle and treat of the subject under 
the two distinct heads of induction and deduction. But 
we now see that the two methods are not wholly inde- 
pendent of each other. In reality, they are frequently 
blended or employed alternately in the pursuit of science. 
It is no exaggeration to say that all the more important 
and extensive investigations of science rely as much 
upon the one as upon the other. In both, the syllogism, 

^ First published in the North American Review^ April, 1900. 

338 



The Scientific Method in Theology 339 

with its major and minor premises and conclusion, holds 
the foremost place. For the syllogism is not only the 
form of deductive reasoning, but it is the true type of 
all reasoning properly so called. It may not be always 
necessary to express an argument in the form of a syl- 
logism, but it must always be thrown into this form 
when scientific accuracy is required. 

While there is little or no disagreement among think- 
ers about the nature and place of deduction in science, 
there is often a great deal of controversy over the sphere 
and proper function of induction. This arises from the 
fact that the term induction may be employed in at least 
three different senses. 

In the first place, induction may be used to designate 
the old Socratic method of attaining definitions. This 
consists simply in enumerating all the particulars of a 
class. It is what is sometimes called a perfect induc- 
tion; and, although it is in the form of reasoning, it 
is not reasoning at all. All we do in such a case is 
to solve a simple problem in addition and state the 
result. 

Induction, according to the second meaning given to 
the term, is any process of adding to our knowledge. It 
was Bacon's chief objection to the Aristotelian logic that 
its premises were all taken for granted. It could never, 
in his opinion, in any way increase our knowledge. He 
therefore asked the question, How do we obtain our 
knowledge, and how do we progress in it ? His answer 
to the question was, By induction ; and, as contrasted 
with the old method, the term took on the meaning of 
any process that adds anything to what we already 
know at any given time. But this view of induction is 
too broad, just as the first view is too narrow. It in- 
cludes every other mode of acquiring knowledge as well 



340 The Sphere of Religion 

as reasoning, while the first view excludes reasoning 
altogether. 

The third and most rational definition of induction 
represents it as the process of thought b}' which w^e pass 
from particulars to generals, or from eSects to their 
causes. It is only in this sense that it can in any way 
be brought into contrast with deduction, as one of the 
essential methods employed in the pursuit of science. 

Of course, the chief preliminary^ step in any induction 
is the acquisition of the particulars, and this can only 
be done by the two processes of obser\'ation and experi- 
ment. But they do not form any part of induction 
properl}^ so called. The mere ascertainment of facts 
does not make a scientist. There are a thousand work- 
ers in science to one scientist. The most exact observ- 
ers and the most skilful experimenters are not, by any 
means, the best scientists. Quite the opposite is prob- 
ably the rule. Many of the world's greatest scientists 
have been notoriously defective in this respect. Never- 
theless, a highly developed science, in any department 
of knowledge, is possible only upon the basis of a large 
suppl}' of carefuU}' ascertained facts. 

The great and distinctive element in all induction is 
the formation of the hypothesis ; and there can be no 
inductive science formed of an}^ sort where this is not 
the chief feature. 

What, then, is to be understood by an hypothesis, 
and what is the process the mind goes through in bring- 
ing it to ^dew ? i^n h^'pothesis is a supposition, a guess, 
or conjecture as to what the general fact is which in- 
cludes the given particular facts, or what the cause is 
which has brought about the given eff"ects. The term 
is sometimes contrasted with the term ''theory," as 
though the two were necessarily distinct ; an hj^pothesis 



The Scientific Method in Theology 341 

being regarded as a mere possibility, while a theory is 
called a verified hypothesis. But this view is largely an 
arbitrary one, as the terms are often used interchange- 
ably, as when we speak indiflferently of the Darwinian 
hypothesis or the Darwinian theory. 

Much might be said about the conditions most favor- 
able for making a good hypothesis, but the chief thing 
that concerns us for our present purpose is the fact that 
every hypothesis, however formed, is always a product 
of the constructive imagination. All previous acts are 
simply by way of gathering material for the imagination 
to rearrange and recombine into a new creation. 

In a certain sense, the mind takes a leap into the 
dark. It literally passes, per saltiun^ from the realm 
of the known to the realm of the unknown. From all 
the material that the memory places at its disposal it 
makes a guess or conjecture as to what will best meet 
all the exigencies of the situation. 

It is for this reason that men of science, in all realms 
and in all ages, have always been men of powerful im- 
aginations. The Greeks were the first great scientists 
of the race, because they were far more highly endowed 
than any other people with great imaginative powers. 
What they saw excited those powers and urged them 
to conjecture, to reason about things, and try to ex- 
plain their nature and cause. It was well said by Dr. 
Carpenter that *Mt cannot be questioned, by any one 
who carefully considers the subject under the light of 
adequate knowledge, that the creative imagination is 
exercised in at least as high a degree in science as it is 
in art or poetry. Even in the strictest of scienc-es — 
mathematics — it can easily be shown that no really 
great advance, such as the invention of fluxions by 
Newton and of the differential calculus by Leibnitz, 



342 The Sphere of Religion 

can be made without the exercise of the imagination.'' 

Given the hypothesis, the next step in the scientific 
process is to verify it ; and this is done by making the 
hypothesis the major premise of a deductive syllogism 
and noting the results. If the conclusions obtained 
coincide with the observed facts with which we started, 
the hypothesis is probably a correct one, and other 
things being equal, may be accepted as an established 
truth. 

From this outline of the scientific method we see 
that no induction can be established beyond a high 
degree of probability. That is, no one can ever be 
absolutely certain that the hypothesis he assumes 
is a veritable truth. All generalizations in every 
science thus have their logical basis in the theory of 
probabilities. 

When Bishop Butler asserted that '* probability is 
the very guide of life,'' he might have added, **and 
we have no other." For all our judgments of what 
the past has been, or the present is, or the future will 
be, are necessarily formed on that basis ; and as we 
are finite creatures and can never have infinite know- 
ledge on any of these subjects, the knowledge we do 
have can never be more than probable. 

The truth is that every man is so constituted by 
nature that he can never be absolutely certain of any- 
thing outside of the facts of his own consciousness and 
the simple intuitions necessarily involved therein ; and 
when he makes an assertion transcending this realm, 
he passes at once into the sphere of the probable. 

What we know with absolute certainty is never a 
matter of inference. It is never the result of a process 
of reasoning. It is always known directly, at once, by 
an immediate beholding. It is easy to see, therefore. 



The Scientific Method in Theology 343 

that the realm of absolute certainty is a clearly limited 
one, and that the realm of probability includes within 
itself the great body of our knowledge. I am abso- 
lutely certain that I experience sensations, that I who 
experience them exist, and that the sensations have a 
cause ; but I can be only probably certain that this 
particular concrete object was the cause. It is exceed- 
ingly easy for the most cautious person living to be 
mistaken in his judgments, and to draw wrong infer- 
ences from the data furnished by any one or all of his 
senses ; and he can never be absolutely certain that he 
draws the right one. All the wisest man in the world 
can do is carefully to estimate the probabilities in the 
case and act accordingly. To say of a thing, *' I have 
seen it with my own eyes," is only to make its exist- 
ence probable; and to obey the injunction, ''Handle 
me and see," can give only probable knowledge. 

In every discussion of this sort a clear distinction 
should always be made between intuitively knowing 
and believing. I intuitively know a thing to be true 
when I am absolutely certain of it ; I believe a thing 
to be true when I fall short, however little, of such cer- 
tainty. That is to say, belief is simply imperfect 
knowledge. It is any kind of knowledge, in any 
sphere, which fails, in an}^ respect, of being absolute. 
No proposition, perhaps, is more familiar to a beginner 
in logic than the statement, ** All men are mortal," 
but even that assertion can be to him nothing more 
than a matter of a high degree of probability. For he 
has known only a very few men in the past, and as to 
those who may come to exist in the future he cannot 
positively assert that they will possess that property. 
He simply believes the proposition to be true, in just 
the same way, and no other, as he might believe in a 



344 ^^^ Sphere of Religion 

material heaven, or a mountain of gold, or the real 
existence of a centaur. 

Every natural scientist, I suppose, accepts and 
teaches the doctrine that every particle of matter at- 
tracts every other particle directly as the mass and 
inversely as the square of the distance. But he has ex- 
amined only a few of the particles ; and, from the very 
nature of the case, he can never be certain that those 
he has not examined are exactly like those he has. 
The doctrine furnishes him with a good working hy- 
pothesis. The probabilities are very high in its favor. 
But all he has any right to say about it is that he 
believes in the law of gravitation, not that he is 
absolutely certain of its truthfulness. 

And so it is when we come to the realm of theology. 
We employ the same finite powers of mind in con- 
structing a theology as in forming a science of botany 
or of physics. There is no difference in the kind of 
knowledge we have of each, but only in the class of 
objects taken into consideration. And my faith in the 
truth or falsity of their respective doctrines, and the 
degree of m}^ faith in them, should always vary with 
the degree of their probability. 

Theology, properly understood, is the science which 
seeks to account for the universe from the standpoint 
of God. It attempts to put all the known facts together 
into a system around this idea. It does not draw its 
material from any alleged revelation alone, although 
the revelation, if true, will furnish some of its most 
important data. But it gathers its material from every 
realm of knowledge. Every new fact discovered in 
any quarter of the universe increases its material, and 
every old supposed fact exploded diminishes it. 

Now, all the facts that any man can possibly know 



The Scientific Method in Theology 345 

may best be divided, for our present purpose, into two 
classes, internal facts and external facts. By internal 
facts we mean the facts of one's own consciousness, and 
by external facts, all else that can be mentioned. The 
former are certain to one, the latter merely probable. 
Every man who constructs a botany, or a geology, or 
any other science, makes it out of probable facts only. 
Every man who writes a history states and explains 
nothing of which he can be more than probably certain. 
How evident it is, then, that he w^ho seeks to give 
unity to all the sciences, to explain the universe in 
which the great mass of the facts are onl}^ probable, 
can never attain to more than a probable solution of 
the problem, and can never justly ask another to ac- 
cept his conclusions on any other ground than the high 
degree of their probability. 

Great thinkers, from Thales, Plato, and Moses, have 
had their theologies — their explanations of the origin 
and nature of the universe, as they understood it, and 
many of these explanations have been of extraordinary 
merit; but even St. Paul himself could never have been 
certain that his explanation was more than a probably 
true one. 

Three great systems of theology are presented in the 
New TcvStament. Some prefer that of St. Paul ; some 
find the Petrine theology more to their mind ; while 
others adhere to that of St. John. The Apostles' Creed 
contains, perhaps, the sum and substance of all three ; 
but no assertion in it transcends the rcahn of the prob- 
able. A brief examination of the creed itself will make 
this apparent. It begins with the statement, '' I be- 
lieve in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven 
and earth." Now, the existence of a Power back of 
nature and all finite being, like one's own existence, 



346 The Sphere of Religion 

is a matter of positive certainty ; but any assertion 
concerning the nature of that Power, since it is an 
induction from probable facts, can never be more than 
probable. When we say, therefore, with the creed, 
that God is the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven 
and earth, we are asserting something about the nature 
of the Supreme Being of which no man can be more 
than probably certain. The degree of confidence we are 
justified in having in this statement depends on the 
degree of its probable truthfulness. 

Take, again, the statement of the creed concerning 
the nature and mission of Jesus : ' ' And in Jesus Christ, 
His only Son, our Lord ; who was conceived by the 
Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary ; suffered under 
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried ; He 
descended into hell ; the third day He rose from the 
dead ; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on 
the right hand of God, the Father Almight^^ ; from 
thence He shall come to judge the quick and the 
dead." 

Whether there ever existed on the earth such a per- 
son as Jesus, and what he experienced, are purely 
matters of historical evidence. And as everything that 
is a matter of evidence is a matter of probability, this 
must be also. We can never be absolutely certain that 
those who wrote his history were really acquainted 
with the facts of his life, or have honestly represented 
them, or that their testimony, after being once recorded, 
has not been so frequently and radically altered as to 
give us to-day, in some respects, an erroneous concep- 
tion of the truth. Even if we regard the record as it 
stands as veritable history, the doctrine of the actual 
divinity of Jesus, that he is in reality son of God as 
well as son of man, is an induction from certain alleged 



The Scientific Method in Theology 347 

facts, and can, therefore, never be established bej'ond 
all possible doubt. 

The creed closes with the ajB&rmation : '* I believe in 
the Holy Ghost ; the Holy Catholic Church ; the com- 
munion of saints ; the forgiveness of sins ; the resur- 
rection of the body ; and the life everlasting." 

The writer of this passage, from the data that he had 
before him, simply drew the conclusion that the argu- 
ments in favor of these propositions were far stronger 
than those against them ; and, accordingly, he was 
ready to say concerning them, as he does say in the 
statement itself, ''I believe" — not ** I am absolutely 
certain of their truthfulness." 

But it makes no diflference to the matter in hand 
from what source he obtained his information. Even 
if we allow that every word in Scripture came directly 
from the lips of the Almighty, no man could ever be 
more than probably certain that he correctly heard the 
words when they were uttered, or correctly wrote them 
down, or correctly understood them after they were 
written, either by themselves or in their mutual rela- 
tions. There is always room for possible doubt con- 
cerning any of these assertions ; and all that the 
profoundest thinker can do for them is to establish 
their probable truthfulness. 

What we have said concerning the so-called Apostles* 
Creed applies with equal force and validity to every 
creed in Christendom and to every system of theology, 
however elaborately constructed or however dogmati- 
cally expressed. The most certain of their generaliza- 
tions are probable, and probable only, and those who 
teach them are never justified in urging their acceptance 
upon others on any other ground. The only theology 
that has any basis for its existence is an inductive 



,1 



348 The Sphere of Religion 

theology; and just as ''all inductions in physical 
science are only probable," so they are in theological 
science also. 

It is never necessary, in fact it is never possible, to 
do more for any doctrine in any department of inquiry 
than to show that the balance of probabilities is in its 
favor. When we have shown that, we have made the 
doctrine worthy of credence, we are entirely justified 
in accepting it as a truth and adopting it as a rule of 
conduct. 

He who says of any generalization in any sphere of 
thought that he will not accept it as true until he is 
absolutely certain of it, literally does not know enough 
to eat when he is hungry, or to drink when he is 
thirsty. The conduct of an ordinary idiot would put 
him to the blush. As John I^ocke so tersely puts it, 
*' He that will not stir until he infallibly knows that the 
business he goes about will succeed, will have but 
little else to do but to sit still and perish.'* 

Every man, because he is a man, is endowed with 
powers for forming judgments, and he is placed in this 
world to develop and apply those powers to all the ob- 
jects with which he comes in contact. In every sphere 
of investigation he should begin with doubt, and the 
student will make the most rapid progress who has 
acquired the art of doubting well. But doubt is sim- 
ply a means to an end, not an end in itself. We begin 
with doubt in order that we may not end with it. To 
continue to doubt after the material for forming a 
judgment is before the mind, is a sign of weakness. 
The man who does so commits intellectual suicide. 
All you can do for him is to give him a decent burial 
and pass on. 

We ask that every student of theology take up the 



The Scientific Method in Theology 349 

subject precisely as he would any other science ; that 
he begin with doubt, and carefully weigh the argu- 
ments for every doctrine, accepting or rejecting each 
assertion according as the balance of probabilities is 
for or against it. We demand that he thoroughly 
*'test all things," and thus learn how to "hold fast 
that which is good." 

We believe that even the teachings of Jesus should 
be viewed from this standpoint, and should be accepted 
or rejected on the ground of their inherent reasonable- 
ness. But we also firmly believe that the probabilities 
that he spoke the truth are so high that they can 
never be made any higher ; that, when his doctrines 
concerning God and man and nature are correctly ap- 
prehended, it will clearly be seen that they fully satisfy 
the demands of the intellect and the cravings of the 
heart. And we do not regard it as at all likely that 
any theology of the future will have much influ- 
ence over the minds of the thoughtful that does 
not draw its chief and most important data from that 
source. 

Superficial critics call the age in which we live an 
age of novel-reading and devotion to trifles ; but the 
more thoughtful observer does not hesitate to affirm 
that it is unsurpassed in earnestness. 

True, it is disinclined to acknowledge the super- 
natural. True, it is more inquiring than asserting, 
more doubting than believing. Yet there probably 
never has been a time in our history when purely spir- 
itual questions have been so widely and seriously dis- 
cussed as at present. The creeds of the world, both 
Christian and un-Christian, have never before been 
studied with such universal interest, or criticised with 
such unsparing vigor. 



350 The Sphere of Religion 

In fact, the one pre-eminent demand of the present 
hour is a truly scientific theology— not a Chinese nor a 
Roman nor an Anglican theology, not a Baptist nor 
a Methodist nor a Presbyterian theology, not a Mosaic 
nor exclusively a Pauline theology, but a theology so 
cautiously constructed as to exclude all fiction, and so 
profound and comprehensive in its teachings as to 
include all the facts. 

But this imperative need of the age will never be 
satisfied until every student of the subject clearly 
recognizes the fact, and constantly applies it, that in 
theology, as in every other department of knowledge, 
all generalizations are matters of a high or a low de- 
gree of probability , to be accepted or rejected according 
as the balance of probabilities is for or against them ; 
and that the degree of confidence we should have in 
such generalizations is to be determined by the degree 
of their probable truthfulness. 

This position, it may be said, requires that all our 
theological opinions should be very largely regarded as 
products of faith. We admit it at once, and we reply 
that this is true of all opinions. Faith lies at the basis 
of every science. So far from faith commencing 
where science ends, * ' there could no more be science 
without faith than there could be extension without 
space.'* 

What Professor Rice has so fittingly said in his 
Twenty-five Years of Scie7itific Progress about the phy- 
sical sciences applies with equal relevancy here : 
' ' From the clear recognition of the extremely narrow 
limits within which certitude is attainable, we may 
learn the rationality and wisdom of acting upon beliefs 
which are probable, and acting with an earnestness 
proportionate to the importance of the interest in- 



The Scieyitijic Method in Theology 351 

volved. We may learn to walk by faith more steadily 
by perceiving that, in this universe in which we live, 
only he who is willing to walk by faith can walk 
at all.'* 



CHAPTER X. 

HUMAN IMMORTAI.ITY AND ITS RKI.ATION TO 
RKlylGION. 

Dr. F. C. S. Schili^kr, formerly of Cornell Univer- 
sity, but now of Oxford, in the Fortnightly Review for 
September, 1901, discusses at length the question, ** Do 
Men Desire Immortality? " and he does not hesitate to 
affirm that *^to find it a dominating, or even an im- 
portant, influence in human psychology, one would 
have to seek it, not in the churches or the universities, 
and still less amid the bustle of active life, but in the 
asylums in which are secluded the unhappy victims 
of religious mania or melancholy, in whom an insane 
logic has overpowered the healthy indifference to death 
and its consequences, characteristic of the make-up of 
the normal mind." 

*' Where,'* said Dr. William Osier of Johns Hopkins, 
in his lecture at Harvard last year on "Science and 
Immortality," *^ where among the educated and re- 
fined, much less among the masses, do we find any 
ardent desire for a future life ? . . . Immortality, and 
all that it may mean, is a dead issue in the great 
movements of the world." 

Professor I^euba of Bryn Mawr College, in the Inter- 
national Journal of Ethics for October, 1903, concludes 
a searching criticism of Professor Hyslop's recent *' Re- 
port on Seventeen Sittings with Mrs. Piper" with 
these words : *' Professor Hyslop's careful investiga- 

352 



Human Immortality 353 

tion may have at least one good result — the modera- 
tion of the disturbing wish of a certain class of people 
for a future life. They may learn to face the actual 
present more resolutely and wisely. . . . And as to 
the Christian religion, forswearing its stupendous mis- 
take regarding the future life, it would, let us hope, 
have grace enough to turn around and, instead of lead- 
ing men to immortality, endeavor to deliver them from 
it, even as Buddhism does." 

These and similar utterances from many quarters 
clearly indicate that the doctrine of a future life for 
man is held in serious question, and they fully justify 
the attempt to give the matter a fresh examination. 
We therefore definitely raise the inquiry. Is the doc- 
trine, in the light of modem knowledge, any longer to 
be regarded as a probable truth ? 

But before betaking ourselves directly to our task, 
we would remark that if the doctrine of human immor- 
tality should turn out to be fallacious, religion would 
not be annihilated thereby. We do not agree with a 
recent writer on the subject that *' we can as little con- 
ceive of religion without immortality as without God." 
For religion is not founded primarily upon the fact of 
death or any other similar phenomenon. It is the 
natural creation of the mind of man as a knowing, 
feeling, and willing being. If human life should be 
indefinitely prolonged, such a change in tlie ordinary 
ongoings of nature would not destroy it. 

Students of anthropology are now generally agreed 
that belief in existence after death is co-extensive with 
the human race. It springs up spontaneously in every 
man, and he sets out on his career as a man with the 
assumption of its truthfulness. Dr. Brinton, in his 
a 3 



354 "^^^ Sphere of Religion 

work on Religions of Primitive Peoples^ clearly ex- 
presses this fact concerning primeval man when he 
says, " To him all things live and live forever.'' His 
gods being the source of life, he could no more die than 
they could. Doubt regarding a future life never arises 
in the infancy of any race or individual. It comes only 
when the facts of human experience seem to call it in 
question. Many religions, it is true, have a vague 
notion of immortality, and some deny it altogether, but 
they are not primitive. The word '^ religion" comes 
from the Romans, and was originally applied to the 
observance of a set of rites and ceremonies. Con- 
siderations bearing upon a future life, or even a regard 
for morals, had little to do with it. ** Belief in immor- 
tality," says Professor Granger in his work on The 
Religion of the Romans, ' ' was not a part of the Roman 
religion any more than was a moral temper of mind." 
Caesar's Epicureanism was no bar to his serving as 
chief pontiff, nor was his wild and dissolute youth. 
Many people in all ages of the world have come to dis- 
belief in individual immortality, and many reject it to- 
day. But no one can deprive himself of religion by 
holding to such an opinion, although the character of 
his religion will be immensely affected thereby. 

At the ver);^ outset of our investigation we wish to 
emphasize the fact that all we are in search of is a 
probable truth ; for from the very nature of the case no 
position that can be taken upon this subject can give us 
certainty. All of the accepted doctrines concerning the 
origin and destiny of the world in which we live are 
outside the realm of certain proof. It is no objection, 
therefore, to the doctrine of human immortality that it 
does not admit of demonstration. It is a future event, 
and for that reason cannot be more than probable. 



Human Immortality 355 

Supposing it could be shown that some men have sur- 
vived death (and we have no right to hold that all 
eflForts to do so must be futile), that would not prove 
that many men will, much less that all men will. 

The problem that we now have before us is, there- 
fore, simply this : What are the probabilities that 
man is so made that he survives death and is the pos- 
sessor of an endless life ? Do the probabilities in favor 
of the doctrine overbalance the probabilities against it, 
and give us a reasonable ground for ordering our lives 
in accordance with it as a valid truth ? We propose to 
estimate these probabilities from three standpoints : 
the origin and nature of man, the rationality of the 
universe, and the moral character of God. 

Every human being, as we all know, begins life as 
a single organic cell. As this cell develops, a more or 
less specialized form is assumed. The vertebrate em- 
bryo comes into being, and after that the human 
embryo. In due time the embryo is ready to be 
born as a fully developed infant. The striking thing 
about all these changes from cell to embryo, and 
from embryo to infant, is the fact that the life is con- 
tinuous. Whatever form the organism takes on in 
passing through these prenatal stages of its develop- 
ment, it never loses its vital energy. The spark of 
life, with which it started, is retained to the end. But 
an equally striking thing is that this individual life 
continues after birth as truly as before. As the infant 
grows, he develops into consciousness, and soon shows 
vsigns of self-consciousness. He recognizes the exis- 
tence of other beings like himself, and enters into their 
thoughts and feelings and ]nir])oses. 

As youth comes on, all of his experiences increase 



356 The Sphere of Religioyi 

and widen. He puts himself back into the time of pre- 
ceding generations, back to the first appearance of the 
human race upon this planet, back to the first ghm- 
merings of a visible universe. But in it all he remains 
one and the same self. His knowledge has changed. 
His conception of his own powers has changed ; but he 
has not lost his identity in any of his experiences, either 
with his own past or with the past of his race. 

And so it is when the 3'outh becomes a man and his 
powers unfold themselves in a wider sphere. His life 
is continuous in every stage of his development, and 
always remains identical with itself. These facts con- 
cerning the life of man from a single organic cell to the 
complete unfolding of his powers create at least a pre- 
sumption in favor of his sur\'ival after death, for they 
simply afiirm that the principle of self-identity amid 
diversity, so evident in all his previous histor}', will 
not be annihilated by even this eventful change. 

But the greatest of all facts concerning man is that in 
the process of his development he comes to be a person, 
the highest of all known existences ; and this fact in 
particular seems to mark him for a continuous future 
life. Having attained to self-consciousness, he is able 
to objectify his ideas and examine into their ground or 
source' He can investigate the universe and form 
some conception of its origin and significance. He can 
discuss^ the question as to what his own place now is in 
it, as Huxley and Wallace have done, and have his 
own opinions as to how he attained this place and 
what will be his future destin}', as John Fiske has en- 
deavored to point out. The chief aim of nature evi- 
dently is to produce such a creature as he turns out to 
be, an individual possessing the powers of reason and 
will to such a desfree that he can search for the ulti- 



HuTnan Immortality 357 

mate grounds of things, and apply his knowledge to 
his own self-development. 

Nothing is more apparent as we rise in the scale of 
organic life than the increase of individuality. In the 
lowest organisms both animal and vegetable character- 
istics are so confused that biologists are unable to tell 
us to which of the two great kingdoms they belong. 
But this confusion does not long exist. As we ascend 
in the scale of being we soon find that the life of the 
organism becomes constantly more separate and distinct. 
In its higher forms no doubt any longer exists as to its 
proper classification. This individuality reaches its 
climax among all the objects of nature in man, and 
that is the reason why man is such an enigma to 
science. «^^ 

For individuality, as Caillard has so clearly pointed 
out, always has a double aspect, an outer and an inner. 
The outer is open to scientific investigation. Its 
phenomena are capable of being classified under their 
appropriate heads. But the inner does not yield itself 
to this treatment. It stands by itself. It is known 
only to the man himself. It is the bane of science, be- 
cause it cannot be generalized. When 7nan is treated 
solely from the external point of view, he is merely a 
bundle of impressions, a stream of conscious experi- 
ences, as Hume and Huxley regard him. But this course 
ignores the principal thing about man, which is the in- 
ternal aspect of his individuality, his self-knowledge, 
which is intuitive, incommunicable to another, stands 
out alone by itself, and separates him from all other 
known existences. It is this aspect of man that takes 
the problem of his future destiny out of the sphere of 
science, and takes man out of the category of all other 
organisms open to our knowledge. 



358 The Sphere of Religion 

The ground for the existence of all lower organisms 
seems to terminate with death. They find in the 
visible order of things all the opportunity for develop- 
ment that their powers require, and they die from the 
natural exhaustion of those powers. The function of 
man is different. He never is contented with his at- 
tainments. He always knows that he could do more 
and better under more favorable conditions. The 
more highly educated and cultured he becomes, the 
more vividl}- does he realize how limited he is, and 
how far he falls short of his possibilities. He is always 
looking to the future, always forming ideals of what he 
ought to do and become. 

This ability to idealize himself and everything about 
him creates a presumption that he will survive death, 
that his developed but unused powers will not be for- 
ever annihilated by the sudden cessation of the beat- 
ing of the heart. Of course this presumption, derived 
from the origin and nature of man, that he is destined 
to a continuation of life beyond the present, is bas®d 
simply on the ground that he is fitted to survive the 
present. It does not establish the fact of such survi- 
val. It only furnishes a reasonable expectation, which 
should be taken into consideration in making our esti- 
mate of what probably is to be from what now is and 
what has been. 

It is to be noted, however, that this presumption of 
a future life for man is far different and far stronger 
than the one often derived from the history of insect 
life. When the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, 
it leaves its encasement behind it to be resolved into 
its elements, but it does not take on powers that cannot 
find their opportunity for a full development in its new 
sphere. Man, from the very fact of being a man, 



Human Immortality 359 

possesses such powers, and the more developed he is 
the more he realizes how much he is hampered and 
curtailed in their use. 

One of the chief objections to this presumption comes 
from physiological psychology, and arises from the 
well-established relation of the mind to the brain. 
Everybody knows that a blow on the head will destro}' 
memory and produce a state of semi-consciousness, 
that imbecility is due to an arrest of brain develop- 
ment, and that drugs can very quickly change the 
character of one's ideas by producing an overstimula- 
tion of the cells of the brain. Anatomists, physiolo- 
gists, and pathologists agree not only that thought 
is a fiinction of the brain, but that special forms of 
thought are connected with special portions of the 
brain. Our thoughts about things seen are connected 
with the occipital lobe, about things heard with the 
temporal lobe, and when we speak we use a portion of 
the frontal lobe. All intelligent students of the subject 
recognize the fact that our minds are absolutel}' de- 
pendent, so far as we know them, upon the brain. 
Hence the question inevitably arises, how can there be 
any rational ground for belief in a life hereafter when 
science has taught almost every schoolboy the fact 
that the gray matter of the brain is the seat of all our 
mental powers? 

Admitting in every detail the intimate connection of 
our minds with our bodies, there are at least three dif- 
ferent theories that may be taken to account for this 
relation. One of these theories is well stated and ably 
maintained by E. Duhring, when he says: *'The 
phenomena of consciousness correspond, element for 
element, to the operations of special parts of the brain. 
... So far as life extends, we have before us only an 



360 The Sphere of Religion 

organic function, not a Ding-an-sich, or an expression 
of that imaginary entity, the Soul. This fundamental 
proposition . . . carries with it the denial of the im- 
mortality of the soul, since where no soul exists, its 
mortality or immortality cannot be raised as a ques- 
tion." This maj^ well be called the production theory 
of the relation of mind and body. 

Professor Clifford ably champions the combination 
theory and considers the theory incompatible with in- 
dividual immortality. '' Consciousness," he says, ''is 
not a simple thing, but a complex ; it is the combina- 
tion of feelings into a stream. . . . Inexorable facts 
connect our consciousness with this body that we 
know ; and that not merely as a whole, but the parts 
of it are connected severally with parts of our brain- 
action. If there is any similar connection with a spir- 
itual body, it only follows that the spiritual body must 
die with the natural one." 

But there is a third theory of this relation open to 
our choice, namely the transmission theory, which 
Professor James has recently elaborated. ''When we 
think of the law that thought is a function of the 
brain," he says, " we are not required to think of pro- 
ductive function only ; we are entitled also to consider 
permissive or transmissive function. And this the or- 
dinary psycho-physiologist leaves out of his account. ' ' 
According to this latter view, he goes on to say, " our 
soul's life, as we here know it, would none the less in 
literal strictness be the function of the brain. The 
brain would be the independent variable, the mind 
would vary dependently on it." As this permissive 
theory fully accounts for all the facts as well as either 
of the other theories, we are justified in adopting it 
as the true theory, and in holding that the inherent 



Human Immortality 361 

probability of man's continuous existence after death 
is not set aside by any known interdependence of mind 
and body. 

But the probability in favor of the continuance of 
human personality after death is greatly increased 
when we come to consider the constitution of the uni- 
verse and the evidences that exist there of a rational 
plan or purpose. 

Astronomy, geology, biology, psychology, and all 
the other sciences, as well as philosophy itself, would 
perish if the rationality of the universe should be denied 
or seriously doubted. If man did not take it for granted 
that his mind was rationally constructed, and could, 
under the guidance of the laws of thought, detect fal- 
lacies in his own mental processes and the processes of 
others, he would never undertake the formation of a 
science. Nor would he undertake it if he did not as- 
sume that the universe is capable of being understood 
by the application of those laws. Otherwise all motive 
for scientific study would be wanting. The very idea 
of making the attempt to comprehend things scientifi- 
cally would never enter the mind. Every human being 
would be as listless and indifferent to the nobler aspects 
of the universe around him as a brute. 

The moment the mind begins to see the order tliat 
reigns in nature, it must assert that this order exists 
for an intelligible end. Now the assumption of human 
immortality fits in with this teleological view of the 
universe. It fills out that view and helps to give it a 
solid basis. Otherwise, the highest known products 
of the universe — rational beings and their ideals — have 
no permanent place in the system of things. 

In assuming a future life we merely maintain that 
the same rational end whicli holds good in this present 



362 The Sphere of Religion 

world will hold good in another ; that what we see 
to be rational before death will be rational after. The 
survival of personality is based upon the implication 
that the opportunity for realizing perfection offered in 
the present order of things will not be annihilated 
almost at the very moment when it begins to be attained. 
All sound ethics in our present life requires that we 
should regard a self-conscious being as of far higher 
value than any form of matter. It demands with no 
uncertain voice that we reverence personality above 
impersonal force. Is it, then, too much to say that no 
ethics can show itself rational without ascribing at 
least the same degree of reality and permanence to per- 
sonality as science everywhere ascribes to mere matter ? 
In the light of our present knowledge the three great 
postulates of a rational theory of the universe are the 
conservation of physical energy, the indestructibility 
of matter, and the conservation of personality. Each 
of these postulates requires the other two to give us a 
harmonious survey of the entire field of investigation 
that is open to oiur view. 

But the presumption of a future life for man is after 
all chiefly dependent upon our conception of the nature 
and character of God. The existence of a Supreme Be- 
ing is here assumed, and so is also the view that this 
Supreme Being is a Person. It would, of course, be 
too great a diversion from our present purpose to at- 
tempt any statement of the grounds for these assump- 
tions. But granting their truthfulness, it is not 
diflicult to see that the probability of human immor- 
tality is greatly affected by the character of this Being, 
and will rise or fall according as we believe or disbelieve 
in his moral trustworthiness. 



Human Immortality 363 

The perfect goodness of the Supreme Being is evi- 
dently not capable of demonstration, but it is the only- 
ground upon which we can account for all the good in 
the world and hope for a good issue from all the evil. 
Human life cannot be understood without it. If God 
is the Father of mankind, as well as the Creator, the 
total of human history has some rational significance. 
And just as we base our belief in the hypotheses of 
science upon the completeness of their working, so we 
should assume the moral perfection or infinite goodness 
of the Supreme Being from the order and hope that 
flow from it. 

If we grant this goodness, then the endless life of 
man follows as a necessary corollary. For if God is 
infinitely wise and good, he will not annihilate man 
at death, cutting him off in the infancy of his powers. 
The reason and conscience in God will find their 
permanent expression in the reason and conscience of 
man. God will seek in man, possessed to some extent 
of like powers with himself, perpetual fellowship. For 
man is continually finding himself able, with ever-in- 
creasing approximation to the truth, to '* think the 
thoughts of God after him.'* 

This implies that the human and divine have, to 
vSome extent, a common nature ; just as man*s power, 
partially at least, to transcend in thought the temporal 
implies some relation to the eternal. It is hard to see 
how any being thus capable of entering into ethical re- 
lationship with God could drop out of existence without 
occasioning a definite loss to God, leaving a void in 
his experience that no other being could fill. 

Each finite human person is a unique ethical being 
of far more worth to God than he is to himself. No 
other creature can take j ust the place he takes in his 



364 The Sphere of Religion 

relationship to God. The value of man is, therefore, 
beyond all human calculation. For he is not only de- 
rived from God and sustained by him, but he is the 
reflex of his own infinite powers. How can we pos- 
sibly regard death as the termination of this relation- 
ship ? Must it rather not be a mere incident in the 
earthly system of things, of no significance outside the 
physical order with which alone it is concerned ? 

This doctrine of the natural immortality of man is, 
of course, no new thing in history. On the contrary, 
it has been strongly maintained by many of the greatest 
thinkers of our race. Plato held that birth and death 
are but phases of the same life flowing out from and 
returning to the fountain of Being, that our powers for 
discovering the order of the world declare our divine 
origin. Origen, one of the greatest intellects of his 
age, stoutly upholds the endless life of man. Death, 
he declares, has no power over the soul, for it existed 
before time in the invisible world of spirits and is kin- 
dred in essence to God himself. Berkeley cannot find 
anywhere in this universe a hint that death is the decay 
of spirit, for spirit is self-active, unchanging in its na- 
ture, and absolutely permanent. Variation and decay 
are foreign to its very essence. 

It is doubtful if a more solid piece of reasoning in 
favor of a future life for man has ever been constructed 
than that set forth by Bishop Butler. He does not at- 
tempt to demonstrate human immortality, but to point 
out its inherent probability, and to show why a wise 
man will shape his life in accordance with it. His ar- 
gument is based upon the fundamental maxim that 
whatever exists now will presumably exist forever un- 
less it can be made evident that something fatal to that 



Human Im^nortality 365 

existence stands in the way. If it cannot be shown 
that death is the destruction of the soul, the fact that 
the soul exists now constitutes a strong probability 
that nothing will destroy it, and that it is endowed 
with an endless life. 

To Kant the sublimest fact in the consciousness of 
man is duty. In it he finds the explanation of human 
life and the pledge of immortality. Duty requires per- 
fect conformity to the moral law, but perfect conformity 
in this life is an impossibility. All that can be done 
is to start toward the goal which will require an endless 
future for its complete realization. But the Highest 
who gave the law and commands man to attain it will 
see that the means are provided, and will confer upon 
him an everlasting life. 

Such are a few of the utterances upon this subject by 
the leading minds of the past, and the matter has by 
no means been neglected by the thinkers of the pres- 
ent. Indeed, within the past few years in our own 
country, to say nothing' of other lands, many of our 
ablest intellectual leaders — Royce, Gordon, Fiske, 
and others — have given the matter their profoundest 
thought, and there is a substantial agreement among 
them that man is destined to an immortal life. The 
more we know of this present life the more vivid and 
definite does this conviction come to be. It has always 
been true that life has brought immortality to light 
just in proportion as it has come to realize its own 
dignity and put a just estimate upon its own worth. 

The doctrine of human immortality in the past has 
often been associated with grossly sensual conceptions 
and radically false ideals. Some, in their extreme ad- 
vocacy of '' other worldliness," have fallen little short 



366 The Sphere of Religion 

of making earth a hell, in order to merit heaven. The 
notion of a future life commonly entertained in our day 
is derived from the dark ages, and partakes of the nar- 
rowness and ignorance of man and nature characteristic 
of that period. Enlightened people of the present gen- 
eration, with their ever-broadening field of knowledge, 
have little use for such a view. Moreover, it is unques- 
tionably true that our actual duties lie in our present 
environment, and anything is a blessing that will keep 
man sufficiently in the dark regarding his future des- 
tiny to force him to attend properly to his daily terres- 
trial tasks. What can be more unwise and futile than 
to spend our time in preaching to the immortal souls 
of men, while we do nothing to relieve the distress and 
anguish of their mortal bodies ? In a certain sense it 
is true that if we live up to the demands of the Golden 
Rule in the life that now is, the future will take care 
of itself. 

But, after all, how can we properly conform to this 
rule without some knowledge of the true range and 
bearing of the present life ? If the existence of our- 
selves and of all other persons, past, present, and to 
come, is limited to the world that now is, that fact 
must vastly affect our conception of our present duties. 
A thousand and one enterprises for the advancement 
of mankind in knowledge and virtue will not be en- 
tered upon at all if this is taken as our standpoint. 
We could not tolerate the slow progress and bitter dis- 
appointments that we know would inevitably be our lot. 

The unrest and overeagerness for results which now 
often impede individual development and retard the 
cause of social regeneration, would be immensely 
lessened if more emphasis were put upon the larger 
hope, the wider outlook. The gloom of our personal 



Human Immortality 367 

bereavements, and the shock that comes with the first 
consciousness of the decay of our natural powers, the 
sufferings of the incurably diseased, the horrors en- 
dured by the victims of war and pestilence, and the 
long catalogue of ills due to the ignorance and the 
neglect, the oppression and the despair, of mankind 
would not cut the nerve of manly endeavor half so fre- 
quently as they now do, if eternity, instead of time, 
were taken as our point of view. 

The apathy often apparent in the Christian church 
concerning '*the life everlasting '' is not due so much 
to historical criticism of the ground of its belief, or the 
lack of scientific proof of its position, as to the low 
ideal that is generally taken of what that life is. When 
we think of it as we have a right to think of it, not 
simply as a condition of freedom from the cares and 
sorrows and turmoils of the world, a state of merely 
passive contemplation, but one where all healthful and 
normal capacities will be utilized, where whatever of 
intellectual and emotional and moral power we pos- 
sess will be completely and joyfully employed, we will 
impart a dignity and significance to the present life 
that cannot Jfail to be the source of untold inspiration 
to manly effort, and a perpetual foundation of mental 
serenity and peace. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THK PRKSEXT-DAY CONCEPTION OF GOD. 

John Fiske, in his little book on The Idea of God, 
writing of the different conceptions of the Deity that 
have prevailed at various times in the course of histor}', 
gives us in some detail his own first conception of him. 
" I imagined," he says, " a narrow ofl&ce just over the 
zenith, with a tall standing desk running lengthwise, 
upon which lay several open ledgers bound in coarse 
leather. There was no roof over this office, and the 
walls rose scarcely five feet from the floor, so that a 
person standing at the desk could look out over the 
whole world. There were two persons at the desk, 
and one of them, a tall slender man, of aquiline features, 
wearing spectacles, with a pen in his hand and one 
behind his ear — was God. The other, whose appear- 
ance I do not distinctly recall, was an attendant angel. 
Both were diligentl}' watching the deeds of men and 
recording them in the ledgers." 

Something like this childish conception of God 
dominates the thinking of all undeveloped people, and 
even the early Christians were much affected by it. 
For they could not help being immensel}- influenced 
by the form of government with which the\' came in 
daily contact. Almost without exception they came 
to regard God as a great celestial monarch. In the 
Roman system, with which alone they were familiar, 
the Emperor was the mysterious source of all authorit>^ 

36S 



The Present-Day Conception of God 369 

and power. He ruled by arbitrary fiats. These he 
first made known to his immediate subordinates, and 
they in turn proclaimed them to their lieutenants, 
whose mission it was to communicate them to the 
people at large and see to it that they were implicitly 
obeyed. 

When the Roman empire went to pieces its place 
was taken in almost every particular by the Roman 
Church, the ofiicials of the former being supplanted by 
the officials of the latter ; at the same time the leaders 
of the church took upon themselves even more ex- 
tended powers. Long before the beginning of the 
Middle Ages the ecclesiastical system had reached 
such a degree of development and had secured such 
a strong hold upon the people that practically no one 
thought of approaching God except through a long 
line of church officials reaching from the curate up to 
the Pope. 

In the early part of the fifth centur>^ Augustine 
came into prominence in the church, and his superior 
abilities almost at once placed him in the foremost 
rank as the mouthpiece of the system. Hence it is to 
him that we are to look for the medieval conception of 
God and the ideas of man and the world that are con- 
nected with it. Augustine's two great books, The Coji- 
fessions and The City of God^ are the chief sources of 
our knowledge of his views. The former was written 
about 400 and the second completed in 426. From the 
study of these books we find that Augustine thought 
of God as a great Imperial Czar, who after an infinitely 
long period of inaction determined to create a world. 
This he did some four thousand years before the 
Christian era, and made it out of nothing in six natu- 
ral days. 

24 



370 The Sphere of Religion 

He first created the angels. They are the '' light '' 
referred to in the Scriptures as God's first act. Some 
of them immediately rebelled against him and set up 
a rival kingdom under their leader Satan. Then he 
created the material universe, and when it was finished 
everything in it was essentially just as it is at present. 
Adam, the first man, he made out of the dust of the 
earth, and endowed him with every conceivable per- 
fection both of mind and body. But Adam sinned and 
God cast him out of the garden in which he had placed 
him, and left him to care for himself. 

Before doing it, however, God cursed the ground, 
and caused it to bring forth thorns and thistles, so that 
Adam should be compelled to earn his bread by hard 
labor until the time came for him to return to the 
dust out of which he had been formed. Voluntarily 
depraved and justly condemned for disobeying the 
commands of his Maker, Adam begot depraved and 
condemned children. For, as Augustine argues, we 
were all in him, when *' all of us '' consisted of him 
alone ; and as his nature was stained by sin, God gave 
him and all his posterity over to corruption and death, 
just as any earthly potentate would do in case a sub- 
ject rebelled against him and refused to conform his 
conduct to the behests of his lord. 

But God was not to have his purpose in creating 
a world thus summarily brought to naught. He deter- 
mined to institute a system of grace by which he could 
withdraw a portion of the human race from the general 
ruin ; and to do this he sent his Son into the world to 
pay the needed ransom. As man had had nothing to do 
with effecting this reconciliation, the selection of those 
who were to be benefited by it rested solely with God. 
There thus arose alongside of the earthly state of man 



The Present-Day Conception of God 371 

the state or city of God. Those in the latter were 
to reign eternally with God, w^hile those in the former 
were to suflfer eternal punishment with the Devil. 

Augustine combats with vigor those who hold that 
God would be acting unjustly to punish all men forever 
regardless of their efforts to love and serve him. On 
the contrary he maintains that God is perfectly justified 
in conferring his ^^irresistible grace" upon those he 
chooses without reference to their present conduct, as 
monuments of his mercy, while he leaves the majority 
to eternal damnation as the monuments of his justice. 

The church, says Augustine, prays for all men, but 
if she knew with certainty who the persons are that 
are predestined by God ''to go into the eternal fire 
with the Devil ' ' she would no more pray for them than 
for the Devil. 

Although this conception of God as a Celestial Czar 
advocated by Augustine was generally accepted by the 
recognized leaders of the church during the Middle 
Ages, yet Anselm, the famous Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, some six centuries after the time of Augustine, 
did much to strengthen it by his book entitled, Cur 
Dens Homo ? or Why did God Become Man f 

In this book he assumes practically all of Augus- 
tine's positions, but objects to the view held before his 
time by such leaders as Origen, Ambrosius, Leo the 
Great, and many others, that God sent his Son into the 
world as a ransom to the Devil. His own view was 
that incarnation follows of necessity, if God adopts a 
method of salvation at all. For sin against God is 
an offence of infinite degree and demands an infinite 
satisfaction. 

In spite of his goodness God cannot pardon sin 
without compounding his honor. He must, tlierefore, 



372 The Sphere of Religion 

either destroy humanit}^ entirely or innict upon it the 
eternal punishment of hell. There is only one way for 
God to escape from this dilemma, and that is by taking 
upon himself this punishment. For man is a finite 
being and incapable of rendering to God an infinite 
satisfection. However long he might be punished it 
would all be of no avaiL If, therefore, God is to save 
at all, he must become man in Christ, and Christ must 
suffer and die as our substitute. Christ having thus 
laid up a storehotise of infinite merit and acquired the 
right to a corresponding recompense, God assign this 
recompense to tli^: par: of the human race that was to 
be forgiven and restored to divine favor. 

The first noticeable signs of any discontent with 
these medieval views of God appeared a few genera- 
tions after the time oi Anselm in a work published by 
Peter Linibard. Bishop ::" Paris, entitled. Four Books 
of 5d-7z:- v. The work -rras chiefly a collection of 
quotations from the chtnrch Fathers, but in some of his 
commentaries on the doctrines la: a a:wn in these quo- 
tations, ihe author naively prcpotinaed such questions 
as the following : If God made heaven and earth at 
the same time out of nothing, where was he before 
there was any heaven ? Cotdd God have made things 
better than they are ? WTiat kind of bodies do angels 
have, and in what form do they appear to men ? Why- 
was Eve taken fi-om the siae zi A a am and not fix)m 
some other part of his bo ay? Why was she made 
while Adam was asleep ? Would all men hve forever 
on this earth if Aaam had not sinned? Would chil- 
dren have come into the v; :rld fuU-grown as Adam and 
Eve did ? Why did not God incarnate himself in a 
woman instead of a man ? 

Xo real attemDt was made bv Lombard to answer 



The Present-Day Conception of God 373 

these questions, and the raising of them does not appear 
to have shaken his faith or that of his readers, so far as 
we know, in the conception of God as a Celestial Czar, 
nor did all the upheavals of the Reformation have any 
effect in that direction. For the Protestants did not 
differ from the Catholics on this matter. The only 
question between them was : What is the source of our 
authority for the view ? The one said the church and 
the Bible, and the other looked to the Bible alone. 

It was not till the last century that any real opposi- 
tion to the medieval conception of God appeared in 
history, and then not in the ranks of the church, but 
from a source quite outside of its sphere of influence. 

The first attack upon this conception came from the 
students of geology. They began to investigate the 
question whether God actually made the earth in six 
natural days about four thousand years before the 
Christian era. There is little or no doubt in our time 
but that the earth very gradually came into its present 
form and has been in existence many times six thousand 
years. The arguments for this view are derived chiefly 
from two sources, the facts now known concerning the 
cooling of the earth to reach its present status, and 
those concerning the changes that have occurred in 
the heat of the sun. For the sun and all its planets 
were once one common mass of gaseous matter, and the 
process of vSeparation and of becoming what they now 
are must be accounted for. 

G. K. Gilbert, of the United States Geological Survey, 
has well expressed the probable facts in the matter. 
*'Kstiniatcs of the earth's age," he says, "based on 
geological data have ranged from ten or twenty million 
years to as many billion years. Limits derived from 
the refrigeration of the earth range from twenty million 



374 The Sphere of Religion 

to four hundred million years. The limiting period 
determined by the sun is estimated at from ten to 
twenty million years." 

The next attack upon the medieval conception of 
God came from anthropology. Down to a very recent 
period it was universally believed that God made man 
in the full perfection of all his powers, that he first ap- 
peared in Central Asia, and that the entire human race 
has descended from one pair. Now many think that 
the human race has arisen from many centres, and 
some careful students would claim Southern Europe or 
Northern Africa as the oldest of them all. President 
Warren of Boston University has written an able book 
entitled, The North Pole — The Cradle of the Human 
Race. 

The exact place of man's first appearance is still 
unsettled, but few if any investigators of to-day take 
exception to the statement of J. W. Powell, late Director 
of the United States Bureau of Ethnology, when he says: 
** Investigations in archaeology have now made it clear 
that man was distributed throughout the habitable 
world at some very remote time or times in the lowest 
stage of human culture, when men employed stone 
tools and other agencies of industry of a like lowly 
character, and that from this rude condition men have 
progressed in culture everywhere, but some to a much 
greater degree than others. The linguistic evidence 
comes in to sustain the conclusions reached by archaeol- 
ogy ; for a study of the languages of the world leads 
to the conclusion that they were developed in a multi- 
plicity of centres. ' ' 

The biology of to-day is strongly opposed to the medi- 
eval view. It teaches us that all organisms are made of 
a combination of cells and have grown up from a single 



The Present-Day Conception of God 375 

microscopic cell. It cannot admit that God made man 
de novo out of the dust of the earth, but it holds that man 
has ascended from the lower animals and has come into 
existence after untold ages of the existence of other 
forms of life upon this planet. 

The recent study of history has also contributed to 
show the defects of this view. God has not confined 
himself to the Jewish people alone. Other nations great 
and mighty have existed on this earth, such as the 
Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans, and have per- 
formed a useful mission. Plato and Aristotle have con- 
tributed to the civilization of the world as truly as Moses 
and Isaiah. God has manifested himself in some degree 
among all peoples, and has not left any of them utterly 
without a witness of his existence and care. 

Modern astronomy in particular requires a different 
conception of God to account for its extraordinary reve- 
lations. Our planet is now known to be '' but a speck 
in the order of creation, and every other science besides 
astronomy is concerned with what is going on upon this 
little speck of matter." The discoveries made possible 
by the telescope are extending the universe step by step 
into the domains of infinity. It is now established that 
although the orbit the earth makes in its annual jour- 
ney around the sun is one hundred and eighty-six mil- 
lion miles in diameter, it would hardly be noticed when 
seen from the nearest fixed star. Then, too, each of the 
innumerable hosts of fixed stars is not merely a point 
of light in the heavens, but a sun with its possible 
retinue of inhabited planets. 

The famous astronomer Prof Simon Newcomb sums 
up a description of the stellar universe by saying : *' It 
is composed of an unknown host of stars, certainly 
more than fifty million, mostly scattered in irregular 



376 The Sphere of Religion 

aggregations forming the Milky Way, while many are 
aggregated in yet closer clusters, some of which are 
situated within the Milky Way and some without it, 
and of a number of enormous masses of incandescent 
gases situated at unknown distances. Our sun is 
simply one of these fifty million stars, without, so far 
as we know, any mark to distinguish him among his 
fellows. He is rather smaller than the average ; re- 
moved to one million times his present distance, which 
is probably the average distance of the stars of the first 
magnitude, he would shine only as a star of the third 
or fourth magnitude.** 

But not only so. Spectrum analysis teaches us that 
all this vast collection of worlds is composed of essen- 
tially the same elements as exist upon the earth, and 
that essentially the same combinations of these elements 
are taking place in other parts of this universe as take 
place here. Consequently we have every right to claim 
that the same forces are at work to-day as have been at 
work in all the countless ages of the past ; that creation 
is going on to-day just as truly and just as extensively 
as at any time in the past. All that we know abo'ut the 
universe leads us to assert that it is one, and that the 
same force pervades it all. We have no data for hold- 
ing that there ever was a time when a Celestial Czar, 
enthroned in the heavens, created matter and force out 
of nothing. God has not set up a system of laws to 
govern the universe, leaving them to operate themselves 
with here and there an occasional interference. 

As John Fiske well states it : *' Paley's simile of the 
watch is no longer applicable to such a world as this. 
It must be replaced by the simile of the flower. The 
universe is not a machine, but an organism, with an in- 
dwelling principle of life. It was not made, but it has 



The Present-Day Conception of God 377 

grown." It is not too much to say that this change in 
our conception of the universe marks the greatest revo- 
lution that has ever occurred in the history of human 
thought, and demands a corresponding change in our 
conception of God if we are going to make it fit in with 
present knowledge. 

One of the chief dijBFerences between the medieval 
conception of God and that of to-day concerns the 
sources of the data out of which it is to be formed. In 
medieval times it was held that all our knowledge of 
God came through a supernatural revelation. It was 
assumed that man had no way of finding out anything 
about him ; and that unless God himself should choose 
to come in and make himself known to him, he would 
perish in utter ignorance of the existence and powers of 
such a Being. But God did choose, it was claimed, to 
reveal himself exclusively to the fathers of the Jewish 
people, and through them this knowledge has been 
transmitted to us. 

The view of to-day is that we get our ideas of God 
from what we know of the universe about us, and from 
what we know about ourselves. And the data that have 
been accumulated during the last few generations on 
these matters have been so vast that we can well say 
with Dr. Edward Caird i^The Evolution of RcliQ;ion, 
vol. i., p. 138) that *' human knowledge will belie all 
its past history, if the new light upon man's relation to 
the world and to his fellow-men, which science is every 
day bringing to us, does not give occasion to a new 
solution or interpretation of the idea of God." 

From the study of the universe we learn that the 
various forms of nature have come into existence one 
after another through the workings of an all-per\'ading 
and persistent Force. The harmony of nature is not 



378 The sphere of Religion 

something imposed upon it by some power outside of 
itself, but is inherent in its very being. The concep- 
tion of matter as inert or dead is entirely outgrown. 
Everything is quivering with energy, and all the mo- 
tions of matter are manifestations of Force to which the 
notion of beginning and end can in no way be appUed. 
The modern doctrines of the indestructibility of matter 
and the continuity of motion are simply two aspects 
of the fundamental truth of the persistency of Force. 

The most common, but at the same time most im- 
pressive illustration that can be given of this unity of 
nature, as every one admits who stops to reflect upon 
the matter, is the luminiferous ether. For one can no 
longer talk of empty space. Every portion of space is 
filled with a " cosmic jelly " of almost infinite elasticity 
and hardness. Yet it does not interfere in any percep- 
tible way with the motions of even the most insignifi- 
cant of the heavenly bodies. Undulations that we call 
heat, light, magnetism, electricity, and the like, radi- 
ating from millions of centre points, run along this 
substance, crossing each other in every conceivable 
direction ; and although this has been going on for- 
ever, so far as we know, we have no evidence that the 
harmony of the motions in the universe has ever been 
in the least disturbed thereby. 

Now all these considerations should have a funda- 
mental influence upon our conception of God. We 
should see that this Infinite Eternal Energy from . 
which all things proceed, and which forever sustains 
everything that is, and keeps each part of the universe 
in perfect accord with every other part, is a primary 
factor in this conception. We should freely admit with 
Origen and Cousin that we have no other way of think- 
ing about the relation of God to the world than by 



The Present-Day Cojiception of God 379 

aflfirming, as they did, that '* God is no more without 
a world than a world is without God.'* 

Probably no writer more clearly and concisely ex- 
presses this truth as seen in the light of present 
knowledge than Herbert Spencer when he says : " Amid 
the mysteries which become the more mysterious the 
more they are thought about, there will remain this 
one absolute certainty, that we are ever in the presence 
of an Infinite Eternal Energy from which all things 
proceed/' This conception of God prevents us from 
regarding him as the great First Cause ; for he is the 
one without whom nothing is and with whom everj^- 
thing is. He is the only Cause, and there are in nature 
no secondary causes. 

The ancient Hebrews were literally correct in say- 
ing : '' He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a 
heap. He layeth up the depth in storehouses. He 
causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for 
the service of man. He looketh on the earth and it 
trembleth. He toucheth the hills and they smoke." 
They went to the very bottom of the subject, though 
perhaps they were far wiser than they knew, when 
they spoke of God as the one **who coverest thyself 
with light as with a garment ; who stretchest out the 
heavens like a curtain ; who layeth the beams of his 
chambers in the waters ; who maketli the clouds his 
chariot ; who walketh upon the wings of the wind." 

Every act of nature is the direct act of God. God is 
in nature and in all of it. Its laws are simply his ways 
of working. God is, therefore, never to be thought of 
as afar off. He is present in every stone and leaf and 
flower at every moment. As Tennyson says in his 
poem on "The Higher Pantheism" : ''The sun, the 
moon, the stars, the seas, the hills, and the plains, Are 



I 



380 The Sphere of Religion 

not these, O soul, the vision of Him who reigns? . . . 
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands or 
feet/' 

There is, therefore, no room for a distinction in this 
universe between the natural and the supernatural. 
We can apply either word to all that takes place, but 
not both words. The truth requires us to assert that 
all the phenomena of nature are of the same sort. God 
is in all phenomena, and if there were no God we 
should have no phenomena. God is all the time 
changing the forms of his manifestation. The phe- 
nomena of yesterday are not the phenomena of to-day. 
In other words, God never stops creating. As layman 
Abbott keeps reiterating, every day is a creating day, 
and every new leaf or sprig or flower is a new creation. 

From the history of the development of life upon 
this planet, "and especially from the life of man, we 
learn that there is another element that should also 
enter into our conception of God, namely, that the 
Infinite Eternal Energy in the universe is a Power that 
makes for righteousness. There is a progress in the 
events that are constantly going on, and this progress 
shows a righteous plan or purpose about us. This is 
clearly discernible in the arrangements nature has made 
for the production of higher forms of life out of lower. 
All the chief stages of this progress are now depicted 
with such detail that he who runs may read, and the 
grand consummation towards which all organic evolu- 
tion is tending is the production of the highest form of 
psychical life. This has gone on, it is true, through 
countless ages of toil and trouble, but it has now pro- 
gressed so far that the glory of the end or purpose 
admits of no reasonable doubt. 

Under the sway of natural law those organisms have 



The Present-Day Conception of God 381 

survived that were fitted to bring about what we now 
know to be a fact, namely, that higher and higher in- 
dividuals appeared upon the scene of action, endowed 
with capacities for an increasingl}^ varied and richer 
life. All the dramas of life and death that took place 
during the ages of geologic history^ led up to the 
appearance of such organisms, so that, as another 
expresses it, '* the whole scheme was teleological, and 
each single act of natural selection had a teleological 
meaning. ' ' The existence of an end or plan or pur- 
pose in the universe was never so evident as in the 
light of present knowledge. It is, however, only the 
form of the argument for a design in the universe that 
has changed in recent times, not the argument itself. 
The old natural tneology represented by Paley insisted, 
as we have seen, upon the simile of the watch. Mod- 
ern thought supplants that with the simile of the 
flower, which makes the argument for design a thou- 
sand-fold more wonderful and impressive. For it 
depends chiefly for its cogency upon the phenomena 
of life. 

Never before in history has the reasonableness in the 
world been so evident as it is now. For never before 
has there been such a flood of light thrown upon the 
origin and nature of man as now. His existence is 
now seen to be due to a change in the working of 
natural selection, as John Fiske has so clearly pointed 
out. Before his time physical variations were selected 
and psychical variations ignored. Then came a time 
when the situation changed. Psychical variations 
were selected and physical variations ii^^nored. The 
long infancy of man made the family possible, and the 
family led to human society with the beginnings of 
political, moral, and religious ideas and sentiments. 



382 The Sphere of Religion 

Man with these ideas and sentiments became a dif- 
ferent being from all lower creatures, not only in degree 
but kind, and capable of a progress to which we can 
set no conceivable limits. All the forms of life below 
man use their energy to develop their physical powers. 
They always carry out the motto : Eat and drink for 
the glory of the body. With man began the process of 
using the body for the life of the soul. He is capable 
of following the injunction, Whether ye eat or drink, 
do all for the glory of the spirit. He can, therefore, 
develop to ever-increasing degrees of perfection. Thus 
man is seen to be the crown and glory of the universe, 
and his moral discipline its ultimate ground or end. 
In other words, the universe is so constructed that a 
rational plan dominates in it. The power that it re- 
veals makes for righteousness. And we have no other 
way of properly accounting for this power than by 
looking upon it as one of the essential elements in our 
conception of God. 

No people ever had such an appreciation of this 
power in the universe that makes for righteousness, as 
the ancient Hebrews. '' The word righteousness," as 
Matthew Arnold has well pointed out, ^ ' is the master- 
word of the Old Testament." And he might have 
added it is the master- word of the New Testament also. 
The Old Testament writers are constantly exhorting 
their readers to adopt ''the way of the righteous.'' 
Sinners shall not stand ''in the congregation of the 
righteous." Instead of observing meaningless cere- 
monials as others did around them, they were ex- 
horted to "offer sacrifices of righteousness." "The 
way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof 
there is no death." And from the outset of their his- 
tory they keep asserting of God, " Shall not the judge 



The Present-Day Conception of God 383 

of all the earth do right ? " * * A God of truth, just and 
right is he." *' Righteousness," they declare, *' is the 
habitation of his throne. " '' The righteous Lord loveth 
righteousness ; his countenance doth behold the up- 
right.' ' The primary injunction of the New Testament 
is of a similar import : '* Seek ye iSrst the kingdom of 
heaven and its righteousness." The gospel itself is 
declared to be **the word of righteousness," and in 
the world to come we are told it is the righteous who 
** shall shine forth as the sun." 

If we think of God as in our day we have a right to 
think of him, we shall say that he is the Infinite Eter- 
nal Energy from which all things proceed, and that he 
is the Power in the universe from which all righteous- 
ness proceeds. 

But these two aspects of God, important as they are, 
only lead us on to a third aspect, namely, the aspect of 
him as a knowing, feeling, and willing being ; our 
study of the phenomena of nature discloses to us in 
part what God is. The study of the phenomena of 
human history adds still further data about him. And 
proceeding in exactly the same way, we have to look 
to the mental operations going on in the universe for 
still more light on the subject. 

Beings that know, and feel, and will, have come 
forth from God. He must, therefore, be adequate to 
their production ; whatever else that is higher he may 
be capable of doing, he must be capable of knowing, 
feeling, and willing. We have certainly just as good 
ground for holding that God produces man with all 
his powers as that he produces the tree or the flower. 
We are scientifically justified in maintaining that God 
knows what is going on in the universe and feels an 
interest in it. We may, therefore, truly say that God 



384 The Sphere of Religion 

is ''the Beginning and End of all knowledge," and 
that he is the ' ' master-light of all our seeing " ; for 
every truth is one of his thoughts. If there were no 
God there would be no truth, nothing for us to know, 
and consequently no opportunity to feel or to do. We 
cannot know anything that God does not know, and 
we have no powers for willing what he cannot will. 

There is a sense in which man is in the image of 
God and God is in the image of man, although the two 
propositions are not identical. The Greek and Roman 
mythology grossly exaggerated the latter view and the 
Hebrews often misinterpreted the former. All we as- 
sert here is that God is capable of doing all that man 
can do. Whether he has any other mental powers, it 
is beyond us to say. At all events, we certainly have 
no right to put upon him the limitations to the exercise 
of his powers that we everywhere find imposed upon 
ourselves. We have no reason for believing, however, 
that he ever contradicts himself and acts in one capa- 
city in such a way as to nullify what he does in another, 
as we sometimes do. 

While every new manifestation that God may make 
of himself in the future will shed new light on what he 
is, the highest form under which he has already mani- 
fested himself of which we have any knowledge is 
that of a Father. For human fatherhood, rightly un- 
derstood, is the highest of all his products. For this 
reason our highest conception of God is that of a 
Father, and we ought to fashion all of our notions of 
him in accordance with this point of view. 

That Jesus did this and exhorted his disciples to do 
it, places him above all other teachers of any time or 
country. Not only does the model prayer he taught 
his disciples show this, but from the beginning to the 



The Present-Day Conception of God 385 

end of his ministry he was constantly asserting to his 
followers that God was his Father and their Father. 
All anybody had to do, he says, to lead a righteous 
life, is to do the will of the Father. Even his famous 
parable of the Prodigal Son is chiefly intended to show 
the love of the Father. It is entirely safe to say that if 
we could once adequately comprehend what is meant 
by the statement, God is our Father, we should have 
all the theology w^e need, all we are capable of 
apprehending with our present powers. 

In the light of this conception of God we see how 
radically the old medieval view of things must be 
changed. We have already disposed of its notion of 
creation out of nothing, and have shown how its as- 
sumption of a strict line of division between the super- 
natural and the natural, between a special and a general 
Providence, must disappear with God as the one only 
cause of all that is, and the one who always pro- 
ceeds in a regular and orderly way to accomplish his 
purpose. 

Now this conception of God as our Father reveals 
the fact that he always loves his children. There 
never was a time when he did not love them and was 
not ready to forgive them when they went astray. He 
has alwa^^s been saying to those who disobey him, 
'* Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways , for why will 
ye die ? ' ' We have every reason for believing that it 
has always been literally true that like as a father 
pitieth his children so the Lord pities us when we hurt 
ourselves by sinning. Hence we must hold that he 
did not send his Son into the world to make it possible 
for him to forgive. Forgiveness is a natural act and is 
constantly going on in the material world as well as the 
human. The forces of nature are always striving to 



386 The Sphere of Religion 

heal wounds and make up for injuries. Man is ever 
intently searching for nature's remedies, and his great 
ambition is to find a way by which he can apply them, 
and give nature a chance to do her normal work. 

It did not require any ransom to be paid for sin to 
induce God to look with favor upon his erring children 
and allow them to come back. The mission of Jesus, 
therefore, was not to reconcile God to man, to change 
God's attitude toward his children, but to inspire in 
man greater love and devotion to God. Nor was it his 
work to take away the penalty of wrong-doing, but to 
help on the abandonment of sinful living. He never 
claimed to do the former, but constantly spoke of 
himself as giving his life for the remission of sins. 

Jesus is the great inspirer of man to holiness of life, 
because he showed sinful man that God always loved 
him, and how he ought to conduct himself in order to 
enjoy his love and favor. He is the representative to 
us, under human conditions and limitations, of God our 
Father. He is not the same as God, but a manifesta- 
tion of God. God is more than the sum-total of his 
manifestations just as a man is more than the sum-total 
of his thoughts. Therefore, we should think of God 
as more than Jesus, who was the highest form of his 
manifestation of which we have any knowledge. 

Furthermore, when we think of Jesus as manifesting 
to us the Father, we should not attribute to him a 
divinity different from that of our divinity. To do so 
dishonors God. We are as truly sons of God as he 
was. There are not several different kinds of divinity^ 
but one kind only. Jesus differed from us in the de- 
gree to which he manifested the Father and in the 
purity and holiness of his life. He lived the kind of a 
life he did because of the conditions of his time. He 



The Present- Day Conception of God 387 

suflfered because a father always suffers if the one he 
loves goes astray. I^ve always sacrifices itself for the 
object loved if any need arises for so doing. Jesus 
suffered not to vindicate God's laws, but to reveal God 
to man and to make known God's love for him even in 
his sins. God being our Father, we have every reason 
to suppose that he will do all in his power to disclose 
his interest in his children, that he will show them by 
concrete example, and not merely by precepts and 
commands, how to live the highest life possible un- 
der human conditions and limitations. This Jesus did 
and he had the right to say of himself, ** I am the way, 
the truth, and the life." 

We ought not, however, to think of God as having 
incarnated himself once for all two thousand years ago. 
He is all the time incarnating himself in human his- 
tory. We cannot set any limit to the possible forms of 
his incarnation in the future. We have gone as far as 
we have any right to go when we say that Jesus was 
sent into the world ''that he might be the first bom 
among many brethren." Because he has showm us the 
mind and heart of God beyond any other being that 
has appeared in history we have the right to regard 
him as embodying our highest conception of God, and 
to praise and reverence him for what he has done in 
our behalf. 



INDEX 



Abraham, 111-113, 124 
Acts of the Apostles, 137 
Ahriman, 98 
Ahura-Mazda, 98 
Ancestor worship, 21-23 
Angell, President, on ances- 
tor worship in China, 271 
Angell, Professor, on Chris- 
tian Science, 207 
Anselm's conception of God, 

369-371 

Anthropomorphism in re- 
ligion, 36 

Aphrodite, 90 

Apollo, 85, 86 

Apostles' Creed described, 

345-347 

Architecture and its relation 
to religion, 234, 242-244 

Ares, 87 

Aristotle, 286, 338 

Art and its relation to re- 
ligion, 231-235, 242-255 

Artemis, 90 

Assyria, its relation to Baby- 
lonia, 51 

Athene, 89 

Augustine's conception of 
God, 371, 372 

B 

Babylonians, their sacred 

tablets, 37-51 
Bacon, Professor, 120 
Baldwin, S. E., on relation of 

religion to history, 265, 267 
Berkeley on human immor- 

taHty, 364 
Blavatsky, Madame II. P., 

210-216, 225-227 



Bleek, 1 19 

Bluntschli on the modern 
state, 329, 330 

Book of the Dead, 52-60 

Brahma, meaning of, 64 

Briggs, Professor, 120 

Brinton, D. G., on the uni- 
versality of religion, 14; on 
joyousness in primitive re- 
ligions, 17; on primitive 
architecture, 243; on belief 
in immortality, 354 

Brooks, Phillips, on the mis- 
sion of art, 255 

Buddha, Gautaina, 100-102 

Butler, Bishop, on the sphere 
of probability, 342; on 
immortality, 364 

Butler, President, on the 
definition of education, 

305 

C 

Caird, Edward, definition of 
religion, 10; evolution of 
religion, 14; idea of God, 

. 377 

Calvin, John, on education, 
297, 298 

Ceres, 91, 92 

Cheyne, 119, 125 

Chinese classics, 71-77 

Christian scriptures, 131- 
142; how they originated, 
142-150 

Christianity and eilucation, 
290-306 

Church, the, ami jM-oporty, 
307-319; sec Property; re- 
lation to state, 320-337; 
see State. 



389 



390 



Index 



Cicero on Roman education, 
289 

Clarke, James Freeman, on 
the religion of the Greeks, 
78; on Zoroaster, 100; on 
Buddhism, 105 

Clifford, Professor, on im- 
mortality, 360 

Code of Hammurabi, 47-51 

Code of Manu, 65-67 

Comenius and education, 301 

Comte quoted, 244 

Confucius, 71-77 

Creation, Babylonish account 
of, 42 

D 

Daniel, book of, 128, 129 
Demeter, 91, 92 
Dewey, John, on the defini- 
tion of education, 305 
Diana, 90 

Dreams and religion, 12 
Driver, 119 

E 

Eddy, Mrs. Mary Baker G., 
199-206 

Education and religion, 278— 
306; among the Egyptians, 
280; the Babylonians, 280, 
281; the Hebrews, 281, 
282; the Hindus, 282; the 
Persians, 282, 283; the 
Chinese, 283, 284; the 
Greeks, 284-287; the Ro- 
mans, 287-290; the Chris- 
tians, 290-306 

Egyptian Book of the Dead, 
52-60 

Eichhorn, 119 

Erasmus, 296 

Exodus, 1 1 3-1 1 5 ; and how it 
originated, 121 



Ferguson on tree and ser- 
pent worship, 19, 20 



Fetishism, 18-21 
Fine arts, their nature and 
relation to religion, 232- 

255 

Fiske, John, on the basis of 
religion, 5; immortality, 
365; idea of God, 368; 
argument from design, 376, 
377; human selection, 381 

Flood, the, Babylonish ac- 
count of, 43-46 

Froebel and education, 302, 

G 

Gautama Buddha, 100-102 

Genesis, described, 108-113; 
how it originated, 120, 121 

Giddings, Professor, on an- 
cestor worship, 22; on 
fellow-feeling as a cause in 
social phenomena, 273 

Gilbert, G. K., on the age of 
the earth, 373, 374 

God, the present-day con- 
ception of, 368-387; the 
child's conception, 368; the 
medieval conception as 
represented by Augustine, 
369, 371; by Anselm, 371, 
372; the modern concep- 
tion as affected by geology, 
3 73 » 374; by anthropology, 
374; by biology, 374, 375; 
by astronomy, 375, 376; 
the conception as Infinite 
Eternal Energy, 378-380; 
as a Power that makes for 
righteousness, 380, 383; as 
a Father, 383-387 

Graf, 119 

Granger, Frank, on joyous- 
ness in early religion, 17 

Guizot on religion and civili- 
zation, 256; on origin of 
democracy in Europe, 264 

H 

Hague Peace Conference, ori- 
gin of, 275 



Index 



391 



Hammurabi, code of, 47-51 

Harnack, Professor, on the 

place of church history, 

257 

Harris, President, on changes 
in rehgious thought, 303 

Hebrew bible, described, 107- 
119; its origin, 1 19-130 

Hephaestos, 86, 87 

Heraclitus, 92 

Hermes, 87, 88 

Hesiod, 77, 81-84 

Hestia, 91 

Hexateuch, 122 

History and religion, 256-277 

Holzinger, 119 

Homer, 77-79 

Home, H. H., on^the defini- 
tion of education, 303 

Huxley, on the basis of re- 
ligion, 5; on education, 303 

Hyslop, Professor, referred 
to, 352 

Iliad, described, 77-80; its 
origin, 81 

Imagination in religion, 36 

Immortality, human, 352- 
367; recent doubts on the 
subject, 352; primitive be- 
liefs concerning it, 353, 
354; a question of proba- 
bility, 354, 355; argument 
from the nature and origin 
of man, 355-361 ; from the 
rationality of the universe, 
361, 362; from the charac- 
ter of God, 362-364 

Isaiah, described, 118, ik;; 
its origin, 126, 127 

Isis Unveiled, 217-224 



Jackson, A. V. Williams, re- 
ferred to, 94, ()6 
James, ejnstle of, 141, 143 
James, William, definition of 
education, 303; on im- 
mortality, 360, 361 



Jastrow, Professor, on ances- 
tor worship, 23; on origin 
of civilization, 279 

Jesuits, 299, 300 

Jesus, mission of, 386, 387 

John, epistles of, 141, 144 

John's gospel, 135, 137, 146- 
148 

Joyousness in primitive re- 
ligion, 17 

Juno, 88, 89 

Jupiter, 84, 85 

K 

Kant on human immortality, 

365 
Kent, Professor, quoted, 120 
Knox, John, on education, 

298 
Koran, described, 150-160; 

its origin, 162-164 
Kuenen, Professor, 119 



Lanman, Professor, quoted, 

63 
Lares, 288 
Last Judgment according to 

the Egyptians, 56, 57 
Latter Day Saints, 179 
Laurie, S. S., quoted, 278, 

286,287 
Layard, Sir Austin Henry, 

exploration at Nineveh, 39 
Leuba, Professor, on im- 
mortality. 352 
Liberty, religious, the }>arent 

of i>olitical, 263, 2t)4 
Linn, W. A., on the Mormons, 

180, 181 
Locke, John, on probability 

in life, -^48 
Lodge, S^r Oliver, on the 

reii^n of law. 257; on the 

s]>here of religion, 304 
Lubbock. Sir John, on the 

uiiiversiility of rt^ligion. 13 ; 

on serpent worshij). 20 



392 



Index 



Lucretius on dreams and re- 
ligion, 1 6 

Luke's gospel, 134, 135, 144- 
146 

Luther, on the divine author- 
ity of rulers, 259, 260; on 
education, 297-299 

Lyon, D. G., quoted, 40 

M 

Mark's gospel, 133, 134, 144- 
146 

Mars, 87 

Matthew's gospel, 1 31-133; 
its origin, 144, 145 

Melanchthon and education, 
298, 299 

Mencius, 76 

Mercury, 87, 88 

Minerva, 89 

Mitchell, Professor, 120 

Mivart, St. George, 336 

Mohammed, 160-165 

Monotheism, 30-34 

Mormxon, Book of, 165-177; 
its origin, 180, 181 

Moses, 113-115, 123, 124; as 
a schoolmaster, 281 

Mother Ann, 202, 203 

Miiller, Max, on sky worship, 
25, 26; on Buddhism, 105, 
106; on Madame B la vat- 
sky, 227-229 

Munroe, Professor, quoted, 
291, 292, 297, 305 

N 

Nature worship, 23-28 
Negative Confession of the 

Egyptians, 57 
Neptune, 85 
Newcomb, Simon, on the 

stellar universe, 375, 376 
New Testament, described, 

132-142; its origin, 142- 

.150 
Nineveh, explorations at, 39 
Nirvana, 106, 107 



Olcott, H. S., and Madame 
Blavatsky, 213-217 

Origen on immortality, 364 

Ormazd, 98 

Osiris, 55-57 

Ostler, William, on immor- 
tality, 352 



Painting and its relation to 
religion, 234, 235, 247-250 

Paley, 376 

Paul's epistles, 137-141, 142- 
144 

Penates, 288 

Pentateuch, 122 

Pericles, 285 

Pestalozzi and education, 
301,302 

Peter, epistles of, 141, 144 

Peters, John C, explorations 
in Babylonia, 39 

Petronius on fear in religion, 
16 

Pfleiderer on the basis of 
religion, 9 

Phillimore, Sir R., on the 
basis of international law, 
272, 273 

Plato on immortality, 364 

Poetry and its relation to re- 
ligion, 235, 252-255 

Polytheism, 28-30 

Poseidon, 85 

Property and the church, 
307-319; what is not and 
what is the ultimate 
ground of the right to 
property, 307-309; the 
state as the ultimate con- 
troller of the sources of 
property, 310, 311; of the 
mode of its acquisition, 
311, 312; of its uses, 313; 
of its transfer and descent, 
314-316; the church in the 
United States can control 
its regulation, 318, 319 



Index 



393 



Proverbs, book of, 117; its 

origin, 125 
Psalms, book of, 116, 117; its 

origin, 125, 126 

R 

Rawlinson, Sir Henry, ex- 
plorations in Babylonia, 

39 

Religion , what it is , i - 1 2 ; not 
identical with belief in 
superhuman spirits, 3-5 ; 
or in human immortality, 
5, 6; or in one personal 
God, 6, 7; or with certain 
feelings, 7, 8; or with cer- 
tain acts of the will, 8, 9; 
it concerns the whole of 
man as a knowing, feeling, 
and willing being, 9-12; 
the steps in its evolution 
are: spiritism, 15-18; fe- 
tishism, 18-21; ancestor 
worship, 21-23 ; nature wor- 
ship, 23-28; polytheism, 
28-30; monotheism, 30- 
34; its relation to the fine 
arts, 241-255; to history, 
256-277; to education, 
278-306 

Revelation, book of, 142; its 
origin, 1 48-1 50 

Rice, Professor, on faith in 
science, 350, 351 

Rig-Veda described, 62-64 

Riley, I. W., on Mormonism, 
180, 184, 185; on Christian 
Science, 204, 205 

Royce on immortality, 365 



Sabbath, Babylonish account 
of its origin, 42, 43 

Sacred books and their ori- 
gin, 37-232 

Schiller, F. C. S., on iin- 
mortrdity, 352, 353 

Schlciermacher on the basis 
of religion, 8 



Science and Health, de- 
scribed, 188-198; its origin, 
199-206 

Sculpture and religion, 234, 
244-247 

Shamanism, 40 

Smith, George Adam, 119, 
125 

Smith, Joseph, 181-188 

Smith, Robertson, 17, 119 

Spencer, Herbert, on uni- 
versality of religion, 13; 
on ancestor worship, 22^', 
on education, 303; on idea 
of God, 379 

Spinoza on the basis of 
religion, 6 

Spiritism, 15-18 

State, the modem, and the 
church, 320-337; necessity 
of recognizing a relation 
between them, 322; the 
four great theories of this 
relation stated and criti- 
cised, 322-328; the true 
theory, 328, 329; the re- 
lation in the United States 
explained, 2,12,-111 



Tennyson's idea of God, 379, 
380 

Theology, the scientific 
methodin,338-35i ;the sci- 
entific method described, 
338-342; all generaliza- 
tions are probable only, 
342-345; hence must be \\\ 
theology, 345-351 

Thcosoj^hv, its present status 
in the United States, 230, 
231. See Isis Unveiled. 

Toy, Professor, iiq 

Triad of the KgyjUians, 55 

Tribtutc, New York, on the 
Casablanca uprising, 269, 
270 

Trinity of the Hintius, 64 

Tripitaka described. 100-104 



394 



Index 



Tylor, E. B., 
religion, 4 



on the basis of 



Vedantis, 67 

Vedas of the Hindus, 60-71 

Venus, 90 

Vesta, 91 

Vestal virgins, 288 

Von Ranke, 285 

Vulcan, 86, 87 

W 

Ward, Lester H., on the basis 
of religion, 8, 9 

Weber on the relation of re- 
ligion to history, 277 



Wellhausen, 119 

White, Andrew D., on Ger- 
many's religious inheri- 
tance, 264 



Yoga system described, 67- 

69 
Young, Brigham, on the Book 

of Mormon, 179 



Zeus, 84, 85 
Zoroaster, 95-100 
Zwingli, 298 



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